The Heroes of Mobius: Total War
by Telgin
Summary: Sequel to The Heroes of Mobius. It's been 17 months since the last major attempt by Robotnik to exterminate all resistance. Life returned to normal, but when disaster strikes home the heroes must battle their own fears and weaknesses to survive...
1. Prologue

**Author Note:** Normally I wouldn't do this, but I think this case warrants it. This story is a direct sequel to my previous work, The Heroes of Mobius. Most of the characters are originals (canon characters appear later), so if you haven't read it, you might not understand what's going on. Go check out The Heroes of Mobius first!

**Prologue**

_The Diary of Maya Morceaux_

_April 11, 3236_

I can't believe that I'd forgotten about my diary! I started this diary over eight years ago now, way back when Robotnik first took over and ran us all out of our homes. I remember starting this diary on the only computer remaining in the town after Robotnik's armies rolled through, leaving nothing but demolished buildings in their wake. I was so confused and depressed that I didn't know what to do with myself for a whole week, and writing in this diary is probably the only thing that kept me sane.

Well, I can't believe I forgot about it. I guess with all of the confusion and carnage over Robotnik's last scheme I lost track of my thoughts... Oh, how I wish I'd have had it around during many of those sleepless nights. I'm still a little surprised that we all survived that incident, and I don't think any of us will ever be the same again, even now seventeen months later.

But, I guess it isn't all bad. Like I said, we all survived, and I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We lost a lot of equipment and blood in the battles, and I think that we all have had a healthy dose of humility from Robotnik, but through it all we've managed to deal more damage to Robotnik than ever before, and to top it off we've even added to our own strength of numbers.

We were all a little suspicious of Kaplain when Seltic first introduced him to us (not to mention how he nearly scared me to death, having a robot stare you down in the middle of Armadi isn't something I was expecting). Kyros didn't trust him at all, and I can hardly blame him, but I'm glad we all decided to keep him around. He nearly died when he was deroboticized, but after a few weeks he recovered his strength and has since proved himself to be a hard worker. Heaven knows that we can use all of the help we can get around here. Kaplain tries hard to do what we ask of him, and he seems to have blended in with the rest of us pretty well, but he still doesn't like to go back to Robotropolis for anything.

I really can't blame him though, since I don't think any of us like to go to Robotropolis. What normal person would? I am thankful that he sticks to his original promise to do whatever we ask of him, and even though Kyros likes to poke fun at him, I know he's grateful to have another gun around when the shooting starts.

But, with a new mouth to feed and the equipment losses that we've sustained, things are a little tight around here. We lost both of our hover transports in the fateful mission into Robotropolis that ended up in the orbital weapons being destroyed. Well, most were anyway, we've seen Robotnik use one or two every once in a while so obviously he managed to save a few. Despite our setbacks though, I think we'll manage. Seltic has managed to keep the SWATbot pods that we stole in working order, and our stock of weapons is still pretty good. Food is always a concern, and Robotnik has started being a little more stingy about throwing out edible food, but we always find a way.

Everything considered, I'm tired of thinking about all of our troubles. They always come and go, and until the day that we stand victorious over Robotnik or he drags us to our graves, they always will. I had to learn years ago that the best thing to do was to dwell on them as little as possible, and we are all very much overdo for some rest. Robotnik seems to have begun to focus his efforts elsewhere as of late, and I think that taking a few days off couldn't hurt. If Robotnik hasn't found Armadi in the past eight years with random searches, I don't think he's going to do so now.

So to just take a little time to relax, I think we should all take a short trip to the beach about two hundred or so kilometers from here. I remember going there when I was younger, and I believe that it would do us all some good. I can only hope that Robotnik hasn't built in the area, but even if he has taken the coast line, I'm sure we can find a secluded area somewhere to rest a while. I'll probably bring it up over dinner tonight, and I doubt that anyone will have any objections.

If we all make it back alright, I'll be sure to update again.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Coastline East of Armadi_

_3:36 PM_

Maya took a deep breath and tried to savor the fresh sea air around her. She couldn't remember the last time she had a carefree moment like this, and above all else she was just thankful that they were able to find a beach that was relatively untouched by Robotnik's corrupting presence. There was no pollution to be seen and the air was remarkably clean, even for a place only hundreds of kilometers from Robotropolis. She leaned back onto her hands and watched as the others enjoyed themselves energetically in the ocean and on the beach.

"Throw it back, Ms. Maya," she heard Sissera call to her from somewhere amongst the crowd. At her words, Maya blinked and snapped out her thoughts to find a frisbee lying a short distance away. She reached over to the plastic disc and plucked it from the sand.

"Alright, I'll try." Maya tossed it towards Sissera as best she could, smiling meekly as the disc swerved out of the way and nearly hit Vladimir. "Sorry," she called to him as he grabbed the frisbee and returned it to Sissera.

She enjoyed being near the ocean a great deal. The cool breeze felt wonderful, and the unique smell of the sea was very refreshing. But despite all of this, even when she was younger she never really cared to play about on the beach. She brushed some loose sand from the fur on her hands and continued to watch the others. Given that she rarely had such an opportunity to interact with her friends directly she wanted to join them, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up. She would certainly regret it later when her joints and bones ached from the exertion.

Instead she decided to continue to simply enjoy the atmosphere. Watching the others enjoy themselves was almost as enjoyable, and seeing Marcus so happy was particularly fulfilling. She often felt so sorry for him, having the best years of his life stolen by Robotnik. The most they could hope for was that they would be able to at least stop Robotnik one day, even if it was too late to save Marcus' childhood. She smiled as she saw him following Stanley about, sticking close to him in the shallow waters lapping at the beach. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about Robotnik.

At least everyone else seemed to be thinking of something else. Even Seltic, who was normally content to sit by himself and think about something no one else understood, was participating in the activities. Although he wasn't particularly interested in the frisbee game going on, she could tell that he was enjoying a little time in the water. His sister on the other hand was very thoroughly enjoying her part in the game, and she had been one of the most enthusiastic about coming to spend the day at the beach.

As she sat in thought, Kyros launched the frisbee at the mass of other players. Kyros was rarely enthusiastic about anything anymore, but with all of the trips into Robotropolis and getting shot at, Maya could hardly blame him. When she mentioned the possibility of taking the day off, he didn't outwardly express any strong desire to come along, but she knew that he was glad to be there. Above all else, she knew he was glad to be there instead of Robotropolis. After the events of their last major confrontation with Robotnik, he often expressed his disapproval of returning to the city more often than was absolutely necessary.

Tantalus danced after the frisbee as it neared him, catching it moments before it struck the ground. He always seemed to get along with the others, regardless of what was going on. Maya had never said it to his face, but she was very glad that he was a member of their group. He often expressed his concern for doing anything dangerous and wasn't in a hurry to put himself in the way of harm, but he always did what she or Kyros asked. She was also glad that he hung around Kyros so much, since some of his positive qualities had rubbed off on the echidna over the years.

The sight of Vladimir snatching the airborne plastic circle with a smirk was an odd sight. He was always a loner, even in social circumstances, and rarely conversed with anyone at length other than his best friend Stanley. But, while he often didn't show this side of himself, Maya knew that Vladimir thought a lot of the others. He thought nothing of putting himself between hostile robots and his friends, and he had saved her from harm more than once.

The sight of Kaplain sitting on the sideline alone was no surprise to her. Even though he had been with them for nearly a year and a half, he still hadn't bonded with the group completely. He normally spent most of his time with Seltic or helping to repair things that he was able to. His relationship with Seltic was to be expected, since the the tenrec practically saved his life. Kaplain had since proved himself to be a very valuable member of the group, since his knowledge of mechanics went well beyond what Seltic knew, and there was a decent amount of things that had fallen into disrepair before he arrived.

Despite his place in the group's social structure, Maya knew he was sitting the game out because of his health. Although he had recovered almost completely from the injuries he sustained from being deroboticized, Sissera told them that he would have some lasting effects. He got winded fairly easily, and if he exerted himself too much he could trigger chronic pain that would last for hours. As she looked on, his eyes tracked to meet hers. Her own smile was met by his as he stood and brushed loose sand from his white shirt.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asked the deer as he strolled toward her.

He stopped a short distance away and shielded his eyes from the blazing sun overhead. "Yeah, it's very nice out here. I'm just trying not to overwork myself," he said to her with a smile. "You looked like you could use some company."

"Sure, any time," she replied, making room for him beside her by moving a cooler. "You want a drink?"

"It is hot out here, what did we bring?" he asked as he took a seat next to her.

She lifted the lid of the cooler and angled it at him, "Just water, sorry." She handed one of the bottles to him as he nodded in approval.

He twisted the cap from the bottle and gulped down a large swallow. "Thanks." He took a deep breath of satisfaction and idly picked some loose sand from the cleft in his hoof before asking, "So, how much longer do you think we'll be out here?"

Maya smiled and looked at her watch. "Well, I'm willing to stay out here as long as everyone wants, but I'd say at least a couple more hours. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves."

"Okay, sounds good." He laid back onto the beach towel he sat on and placed his head on his hands. "It is nice out here, I'm not in any hurry to get back to every day life."

"Me neither dear," Maya replied as she took a bottle of water for herself. "In fact, I thought it would be nice if we could stay the night and come back out here a little tomorrow too."

Kaplain looked over to her and replied, "That does sound nice, but where would we sleep? It'll probably get too cold to sleep out here tonight."

"I think Seltic put a survival kit in each of the SWATbot pods. If I remember correctly, they had a collapsible shelter in them. We should have enough blankets and heaters to keep everyone warm with that, I would think."

"Oh, okay." Kaplain shifted himself into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes. "I think I'll just take a nap for a while then. If I'm not awake by the time that you plan on leaving, just wake me up."

"Alright, sleep well." Maya contemplated the idea of joining him for a moment before deciding to search through her pack for an old book that she had brought along. She had owned it since her youth, and even though she had read through it five times already, she always found it relaxing to read her old novels. Even if no one was around to write new ones, she could enjoy this one once more.

* * *

After a couple of hours of reading through her book and taking breaks to watch the others, Maya was beginning to grow a little hungry. She glanced at her watch and noted the late time with passive amusement. Most of the others had already retreated to the beach to actually rest some before heading out, so she decided that she would go ahead and gather everyone up and prepare to set out. She yawned loudly and removed the pair of sunglasses she was wearing before sitting up. With a final brush along her shirt to remove sand, she rocked onto knees and stood up.

"Time to leave?" Tantalus asked her from a short distance away as he caught sight of her standing.

She nodded and replied, "I think so, I'm going to see what the others say, but I'm ready to head out and get something to eat."

Kyros opened his mouth to add something to the conversation but was interrupted by a piercing crash of thunder from the distance. Kaplain snapped awake at the blast of sound and glanced around in a groggy stupor. "What was that?"

Maya turned to face the direction of the sound. As she observed the coal colored clouds rolling towards them from the distance she replied, "Oh dear, it looks like a storm."

"Better get the others from the water then," Seltic said.

"Yes, we can't take any risks," she answered. She glanced towards the ocean to see Marcus, Stanley and Sissera already leaving the growing waves to join them on the beach. "I don't suppose we've got much choice now, it looks like the weather is going to get very nasty soon." She walked toward the three approaching and met them partway.

Marcus met her gaze and asked, "Ms. Maya, do we have to go?"

She bent over to look him in the face and placed her hand on his head. "I'm afraid so dear, it's about to start storming, and it's dangerous to be in the water now." She looked up to the other two and went on, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starting to get a little hungry, so I think it's a good time to leave anyway. We can head out and find somewhere to set up camp and get something to eat."

With their nodding approval, she turned back the community on the beach. As everyone gathered together she repeated herself, "Okay everyone, since there's a storm on the way and it's getting late, I think it's a good time to go on and leave. Hopefully if we leave soon we'll be able to find a good spot to set up camp before it starts raining too hard. Any objections?"

At the silence that followed she added, "Alright then, let's go. The woods should provide some cover from the storm, and if nothing else it should make it harder for Robotnik to spot us with an air patrol or something if he is in the area." She looked around toward the tree line in the distance. "I don't think it'll take us more than a couple of minutes to get in, maybe we can be set up within an hour or so."

* * *

With a final determined stomp, Kyros forced the last spike holding the over sized tent down into the ground. He checked the strength of the metal pole once more before announcing, "Alright, that should do it."

Everyone who had been waiting in the two SWATbot pods while the rain pounded overhead filed out directly into the new shelter. Maya analyzed the thin plastic roof and walls and said, "Thank you dear, I was afraid that the wind was going to be too strong for this thing to survive."

Kyros pondered the howling winds that had buffeted their pod with incredible ferocity just minutes ago before subsiding without a trace. He removed his rain soaked coat and tossed it into a corner before replying, "Yeah me too. At least things seem to have calmed down for now." With a glance at Seltic he added, "Thanks for volunteering me for the job of setting this thing up. I thought it was supposed to be fully automated."

Seltic shrugged. "Me too, at least it folded out by itself. I guess it couldn't anchor itself though."

Maya interrupted the forming conversations by stepping into the middle of the relatively spacious tent and speaking, "Alright everyone, since the weather seems to have calmed down a little, I think we can go ahead and get something to eat." She looked over to Tantalus and asked, "Go fetch one of the electric heaters."

As he trotted off back to the door of the tent, she directed Vladimir in setting a large pot onto a stand in the middle of the tent. "I hope no one minds, but all we have is some bread and soup. There should be plenty for everyone." As Tantalus placed a small heater beneath the pot and switched it on, she continued, "It's probably going to be two minutes or so before it's warmed up though."

Kyros tossed his coat onto a growing pile of jackets in the corner and said, "Alright then, so what do we do until then?"

Maya shrugged. "You can eat a sandwich instead if you don't want to wait. Or, if you don't mind the soup cold it's ready to eat."

Kyros grabbed a bowl from a box on the floor and began dipping some soup from the pot, followed shortly by Seltic. The tenrec smiled and said, "It's good either way, being cold doesn't bother me."

"Suit yourself," Maya replied, making her way over to a box-turned-chair. "I'm going to have to let mine warm up first, this cold air is giving me chills. We might need to bring out another heater or two."

"It is awfully cold out here, to say it was so warm earlier," Sissera chimed in. "It's got to be twenty degrees outside. It is the dead of winter though, I guess."

Seltic found a seat near the two and added, "Even so, it tends to stay warm near the coastline. It's really unusual for it to be this cold here."

"The weather is always crazy now," Kyros said passively as he stepped away from the pot of soup. "We can probably thank Robotnik for that, whether he intended it or not."

Seltic thought for a moment. "True, but it was probably the storm that did it for the most part. That's how they work after all. Then again, I guess it's Robotnik's fault that the storm hit anyway." After the others shot him a curious glance he continued, "The storm seemed uncharacteristically strong for this time of year and weather, I'm just saying that the pollution given off by Robotropolis probably had something to do with it."

Kyros let out a hollow chuckle. "It's really something isn't it? If he doesn't get us with a laser blast, he'll kill us with a hurricane or something."

Maya looked down and let out a sigh before saying, "The weather is depressing enough, we don't need to be thinking about Robotnik right now. We're supposed to be taking it easy for once." As the rain continued to softly thump away at the plastic roof of the shelter she looked up in thought. "I just hope the rain is gone before we leave tomorrow. If it's still raining we won't be able to go back to the beach."

Across from her, Marcus looked up from his seat on the floor and let out a whimper. "Can we stay another day then? One more day wouldn't matter, would it?"

"We'll see, dear," she replied. The odds of something going wrong from one more day of staying away from Armadi were slim, but they hadn't planned to stay that long and hadn't brought enough food or other supplies.

"I'm up for it," Stanley said, beaming a smile to Marcus

Seltic swallowed a spoonful of soup and said, "Me too, but we probably won't have to. These freak storms tend to disappear pretty quickly."

After receiving confirming nods or shrugs from the remaining group, Maya smiled and added, "Alright then, if we have to, we'll find a way." She looked over to the pot in the center of the room as steam began to rise from its uncovered top. "We didn't bring much more than that though, so save a little for tomorrow, just in case."

As the others began to stand and crowd around the pot, Maya slipped over to Seltic. She placed her hand on his shoulder and quietly spoke into his ear, "Seltic, did you bring a computer with you?"

He raised an eyebrow and lowered his now-empty bowl of soup. "Yeah, I never leave home without mine. What did you need it for?"

She smiled softly and raised a small memory stick to eye level. "I've... just got something I've been working on. I thought it would be a nice way to spend the time."

* * *

As the first rays of the sunrise began to filter into the tent through the trees overhead, Kaplain let out a disgruntled sigh and cautiously stretched. He sat up and removed the thin cover he had been attempting to sleep under, then slowly stood. He wiped his eyes and made his way towards the tent entrance, trying to forget his struggle to sleep the night before. The pain that occasionally surged through his body was thankfully becoming more rare as time went on, but he detested every night of sleep that he lost from it. He couldn't help but think of Robotnik and the roboticizer every time he felt the dull pain in his joints, as if he needed anything else to prevent him from forgetting the horrible experience.

He listened for a moment to ensure that the raining from the night before had ended and unzipped the flap. Fresh air and bright light flooded into the tent, damp from the intense rain. He stepped outside and took a deep breath of the wonderful air before grunting in irritation at the discovery of his hooves sinking into the thick mud that had formed.

"Man..." he grunted as he tried to scrape some of the mud away before stepping back into the tent. As he stepped back inside, his foot brushed against a furry white tail.

He smiled meekly as Maya's eyes cracked open and tracked to meet his. "Sorry," he said, moving his foot.

She took a deep breath and stretched. "It's alright dear, I need to get up anyway." She blinked a few times and forced herself into a sitting position. "What time is it?"

Kaplain looked blankly at his wrist to discover that his watch was missing and answered, "Um, I don't know."

Maya blinked again and looked down toward the computer lying dormant beside her. "I guess the computer knows." She flipped the lid of the portable computer up and briefly stared at the screen. "It's only about six, no need to wake the others yet."

As she removed a small memory stick from a port on the side of the machine and stashed it in a pocket, Kaplain asked, "What's that? You been reading inventory lists or something again?"

She smiled and got to her feet with his assistance. "It's nothing really, just a little diary I've been keeping. I thought it would be nice to look back at it some day after this is all over."

"Oh, I see," he said with a smile. "Sounds like a good idea, something to keep your thoughts straight."

Maya nodded and smiled sheepishly. As she looked him over, she questioned, "Are you alright? You don't look so good."

He rubbed his face and grunted. "Didn't get much sleep last night, you know how it is." After an understanding nod from her, he went on, "I think I'm alright now though. Do you want me to go ahead and start loading things up?"

"No need to get started immediately," she replied, looking outside. "We can let the others sleep a little while longer. It isn't like the beach is going anywhere." She glanced at a crate of foodstuffs sitting next to the soup pot from the night before and asked, "Would you like something to eat?"

"Maybe in a minute, some coffee would be nice though. I could use a little energy."

She smiled and stepped gingerly past Vladimir and Tantalus asleep on the floor toward the crate. "I understand completely. I've been needing it for probably twenty years now." As she cracked the lid open and removed a couple of packets she asked, "How do you like your coffee?"

He stepped towards her and rubbed his eyes again. "I can get it. I always have to end up putting more sugar in it or something."

"Alright dear," Maya replied. She set a pot of water on the heater and turned a nob as she continued, "After we get a little something to eat and get things packed up, we can go ahead and set out. I think it's best if we get back out there no later than eight or so. That way we won't get back to Armadi too late tonight."

Behind her Kyros shifted in his sleeping bag. He yawned and spoke up, "Great, I figured you'd want to leave early."

She looked back and replied, "Oh, I didn't know you were awake."

"I wasn't, but the noise you two are making could wake the dead," he replied, sitting up.

"Sorry, but like I said, I think it's best if we don't wait too late. No need to get back to Armadi tomorrow morning."

Kyros stood and glanced over the warming water, frowning slightly. "Yeah, I guess. You want me to go ahead and start loading stuff?"

"You can get something to eat first and wait a bit you want. It's going to be a while before we can get everyone up, you know."

Kyros smiled and pointed at the pot of water. "Hey, if you want everyone awake, just hand that over. I'll have them up in no time."

Maya rolled her eyes and let out a soft chuckle. "No, no, we're not in that big of a hurry."

"Whatever you say," he replied with a shrug. "All of the frozen food is still in the SWATbot pod, right? I don't think I'm in the mood for more soup for breakfast."

"Yeah, but I can't remember what we brought," she replied. She glanced at Kaplain and went on, "You might want to have a look too, it's going to be a while before we eat anything else."

As the two stepped off, she prepared a small cup of coffee and took a sip. They were about out of the supplies needed to make it, and she muddled over the thought of having to head into Robotropolis soon to resupply. There was always something they were in need of, and she hated having to put someone in such danger just to get food.

She took another sip of her coffee and looked outside. At least the rain had stopped, so there wouldn't be any need to stay another day. A calm feeling washed over her as she thought. Things had been going fairly well lately, all things considered. Robotnik hadn't been particularly interested in them, and luck seemed to be on their side. Even the weather was working in their favor for the most part.

She glanced down at the portable computer a short distance away and thought about possibly adding something to her diary before they set out.

* * *

"Wow, the storm must have been worse than we thought," Seltic thought aloud as he stared at the forest outside of their SWATbot pod. "These trees have been pretty much destroyed, it looks like a tornado must have come through or something."

Stanley raised an eyebrow and said, "We were lucky then, I don't think our little tent would have stood up to that."

Seltic shook his head with a smirk. "Nope, we'd probably all be dead right now if it hit us directly. If nothing else, it would have probably tossed one of the pods onto us."

"Just like I said, if it isn't Robotnik directly, it's going to be something like that," Kyros added from his seat at the controls of the pod. "Now wouldn't that be a stupid way to die? We've been shot at for years, but a storm could have ended it all right there."

"I know, I hate thinking about it," Tantalus replied from the passenger seat. "Kind of makes you wonder when it is going to end."

Everyone sat in silence for a moment before Kyros' eyes snapped open and he threw on the brakes. The sudden force threw the four around inside the cabin for a second before it came to an abrupt stop. Tantalus picked himself up from the floorboard and glared at Kyros. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the radio blaring a signal. With a groan, Kyros grabbed the handset.

"What's going on up there?" he heard Maya blurt out. Kyros glanced at the mirror on the side of the ship to see the other SWATbot pod slewing to a halt a short distance behind them.

"You're not going to believe this, but I see bots up ahead," he replied into the intercom.

"Are you serious?" Seltic asked from the back, leaning around his seat.

Kyros pointed out of the view port, indicating a number of figures milling around a distance off. Periodically one would turn to face them long enough for the piercing red glow of their eyes to be evident.

After a pause over the radio, Maya's voice returned, "How many? What are they doing?"

The four observed the machines for a few seconds. Teams of workers took turns moving steel girders away from them toward a site obscured by a pocket of trees and sand dunes. Kyros spoke into the intercom, "Doesn't look like too many, maybe ten. I can't see what they're doing though, other than moving some stuff around." He studied their movement for some time before continuing, "I don't think we've been spotted yet."

"They have to have seen us, maybe they just think the pods are on their side," Tantalus thought aloud.

Seltic slumped back into his seat. "It's not going to fool them long, we don't have up to date IFF data, and when bots don't come out they're going to come investigating soon."

"We'd best move then," Stanley added unnecessarily.

"Right," Kyros replied. He clicked the button on the radio once more and said, "Maya, it's not going to be long before they come to check us out. I think we should move off, then walk in and investigate."

Maya's voice immediately responded, "Alright, let's go before something happens. You lead."

Kyros placed the handset back onto its holder and grabbed the controls. "Hang on guys," he said as he lifted the pod off. The pod shifted slightly as it rose into the air, pressing everyone back into their seat as it lurched forward. Kyros circled the ship around and backtracked several hundred meters back into the forest. At the first sight of a clearing in relative seclusion, he set the pod down.

At the sound of the second pod setting down a short distance away, he stood and motioned for the others to follow him through the circular hatch on the side of the ship. Damp air poured into the cabin as the metal door slid open, revealing the foggy forest around them. The door on the other pod creaked open, followed by its passengers filtering out into the clearing. Maya anxiously trotted over to Kyros, concern plastered on her face.

"So, what exactly did you see?" she asked without pause.

Kyros looked back toward the general direction of the beach, as though he could still see the robots. "I don't know, there were some bots there. They were moving some hefty looking building materials somewhere, but I couldn't see what they were doing with them." He glanced back at the SWATbot pod and added, "I didn't see much in the way of security. We could probably get close and have a look without too much risk."

Maya sighed and looked down. "We really don't need to do anything dangerous, that's not why we're out here." Noting Kyros' disapproving expression, she conceded, "But, I guess it couldn't hurt to know what Robotnik is doing out here. It's always good to get a jump on him if he's planning something big."

"But what could that be?" Sissera asked as she approached. "It's not like we're near anything important out here."

"That could be the point," Kyros replied. He looked back at Maya and said, "I say that we not take any chances."

"Alright, it sounds like the best thing to do. What do you suggest?"

"There's no need to go in swinging," Seltic added. "We should probably just do a little scouting first. Besides, we didn't bring much weaponry."

Kyros nodded. "We don't need to bring everyone then, I'd say that just me, Seltic, Stanley and Vladimir should go." He pointed at the pod behind him and added, "The rest of you should probably have these things ready to go in a moment, I can see too many things that can go wrong."

Maya looked nervously in the direction of the beach and said, "Alright. We'll be ready to come get you if anything goes wrong. Let's just hope that they won't have anything too serious with them."

* * *

As the sounds of the robots working began to become clear a short distance ahead, Kyros motioned for the others to slow down behind him. He peered around a tree and tried to discern the moving shapes ahead through the thin fog surrounding them.

"We're close now, get ready to run if something happens," he spoke quietly to his comrades.

After receiving confirming nods, he crept closer to the clearing ahead. As the sparse fog began to disappear into the open beach, Kyros removed a pair of binoculars from a pouch on his belt and began to observe the scene ahead. It was still impossible to tell what they were doing, but the machines were now easily recognizable. Five of the robots were busy hauling beams and sheets of material off, while a handful of others were patrolling about the scene.

Kyros handed the binoculars to Stanley and pointed toward a hill a short distance away. "This is your specialty, maybe you can get a better look from up there."

"What did you see?" Seltic questioned as Stanley headed off toward his destination.

"It's strange," he replied. "It looked like fairly routine construction work, but I don't understand one thing."

"What?" Seltic asked without need.

"They're all Sahrians. I saw at least two zebras, a meerkat, a hyena, and a lion."

Seltic raised an eyebrow and looked toward the construction site. "But, why would Robotnik have robots from that far away here?"

"Perhaps they lived here already," Vladimir interjected as he continued to scan the trees around them for a possible ambush.

"That's normally what I would have thought, but since they're all Sahrians I'd figure that Robotnik shipped them over here for some reason," Kyros replied.

Seltic continued to stare on as he said, "There's probably a reason for it, but I can't imagine what would require so much manpower that Robotnik would have to start shipping in workers from across the world."

"It's a good thing that we decided to check the place out then," Kyros said. "Maybe we'll learn something important while we're here."

The silence that followed was broken by a low hum beginning to form overhead. Kyros immediately recognized it as the hover engine from a SWATbot pod, and led the others in diving for cover. Moments later, the egg-shaped ship barreled overhead, blowing rain drops and leaves from the forest canopy onto the group. As it slowed to a stop over the construction site and began to release the cargo container it held, Kyros stood.

Stanley appeared from the hill he had been waiting on, hurrying down the hillside toward his companions. The porcupine handed the binoculars back over to Kyros and cut him a confused look.

"I don't really understand what they're doing," he said. "I saw what looked like a couple of liquid storage containers being assembled, but I didn't manage to get too many pictures off before the SWATbot pod ran me off."

"Were all of the robots Sahrians?" Kyros asked.

Stanley thought for a moment and replied, "Well, now that you mention it, yeah. I didn't really pay it any attention."

Kyros looked at Seltic and questioned, "You make anything of this?"

Seltic shook his head. "Not without getting close to inspect the containers." He pointed at the binoculars and added, "Maybe the pictures Stanley took will shed some light on it. It could well be just some mundane construction. Fuel containers or something?"

Vladimir snapped to attention from behind them and said, "Trouble."

The others glanced around in confusion for an instant before Kyros caught sight of a robot a distance into the forest. He couldn't make out any details, but its shout said everything he needed to know. "Intruders detected!" the machine screamed to its companions.

Without a word, the four raised their weapons and opened fire. Beams of energy stabbed at the robot, obliterating trees and sending debris spraying into the air. As a smattering of fire returned, Kyros knew it was time to leave. He let off a five second full auto burst from his laser rifle to suppress their enemy before shouting, "We're at a serious disadvantage here, we need to go, now!" He reached for the radio transmitter on his belt and bolted back toward the clearing where they had left the SWATbot pods. "Maya, we're on the way out. We've been spotted."

The lack of return fire was soon broken by the sound of SWATbot pods lifting off a short distance away, and Kyros couldn't resist letting out a relieved sigh.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Armadi_

_12:27 PM_

Kyros cracked his heavy eyelids at the echoing sound of the pod's hover engines shutting down within the garage. He yawned and looked up in time to see the light in the building disappearing as the massive door behind them ground shut, and propped the laser rifle that was in his lap against the console in front of him. Beside him, Tantalus cut him a tired expression and stood from the controls. As the others filed out of the circular hatch, Kyros forced himself awake and pulled himself to his feet.

Outside of the craft, the entire group was gathering in silence in the middle of the garage. As he descended the short ramp from the hatch, he heard Marcus ask, "Miss Maya, did we have to leave? Couldn't we have found somewhere else?"

"I'm afraid not dear, it was too dangerous," she replied, placing her hand on his head.

"Yeah, I don't think Robotnik appreciated us being around," Kyros added as he reached the cement floor. He pointed at a scorched hole in his coat with a smirk.

"Well, at least we managed to get one day of peace," Sissera said. "And we all made it back in one piece."

Maya looked down and ran her hand through her hair. "I'm always thankful of that, every time we have to go to Robotropolis I worry myself to death." She let out a nervous chuckle and looked back up before continuing, "I just didn't expect to have to deal with it today."

"I know, it's always a little nerve wracking to get shot at," Stanley said. He yawned loudly and stretched before asking, "Anyway, did you have anything else planned today? I'm still sleepy."

Maya looked around and thought for a moment before replying, "No, I don't think so. I guess we're all a little tired, so we can just take today off too. No need to get back to work just because Robotnik ran us off." She glanced back to one of the SWATbot pods for an instant and added, "But, sometime today we need to get the extra stuff unpacked and stored away again."

Kyros crossed his arms and asked, "Alright, but what about Robotnik?"

"I'm too tired to think about it right now," Maya replied with a smile. "We can talk about it over dinner tonight. You're all free until then."

As silence fell across the garage, Maya led the team in a sombre march outside into the overcast day. Kyros fell into line behind the others and began shuffling toward the exit before he heard Tantalus calling to him from behind. He turned his gaze the squirrel with a questioning look, finding him standing near the ramp of one of the pods.

"Yeah?"

Tantalus placed a foot onto the ramp and asked, "You want to go ahead and get started unloading the stuff?"

"Not really," Kyros replied as he removed his coat and tossed it onto a pile of miscellaneous dirty clothing on the floor. "But, I've got nothing better to do."

"Okay, it's not too much stuff," the squirrel replied on his way up the ramp.

Kyros clomped over to the ramp to find Tantalus already shoving a crate half-filled with food into his face. He grasped the handles and hefted it back down to the garage floor, and placed it in the first vacant spot he found. He looked back in the general direction of the pod and called, "We might as well leave the weapons aboard. I'm sure we're going to be needing them again soon."

Tantalus returned from the hatch with an electric heater in tow and cut him a curious expression. "Really? You think Maya is going to send us out again so soon?"

"Absolutely," he replied, stretching his back. "She's sort of predictable about this stuff. I'm tired, so she's going to send us off to do something dangerous."

Tantalus smiled and looked away. "Come on, she's not that bad."

"No, but I still think she's going to send us out tomorrow," Kyros replied as he headed back up the ramp. "I mean, with the stuff we found out by the beach, she's not going to be able to resist."

"I guess so." Tantalus accepted another crate from Kyros and set it atop a growing stack on the floor. He wiped some grime from his hands and continued, "But it is important. Who knows what Robotnik could be doing out there."

Kyros emerged from the ship with the tent case and said, "Yeah, but it's probably nothing." He tossed the case onto a soft pile of clothing below and brushed off his shirt. "Strange launch pads popping up in Robotropolis are one thing, big liquid containers are another. The way I figure it, he's probably just storing something out there."

"Treating the seawater maybe?"

Kyros smirked and crossed his arms. "Now, why would Robotnik of all people be cleaning something?"

Tantalus scratched his cheek and replied, "Yeah, I guess so. Unless he needed fresh water for something. There's plenty of that to be found around all over the place though." He stood in thought before adding, "Then again it could be storage for rocket fuel or something."

Kyros descended the ramp and pointed at the squirrel. "Don't even joke about Robotnik restarting the orbital weapon project. If I never see another space rocket it'll be too soon." He started off toward the second pod and said, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see for ourselves when we get there."

* * *

"Is the welder ready yet?" Kaplain asked Seltic as he glanced over the schematic laid out on the table before him. He rubbed his eyes again and cursed his inability to sleep the night before. Seltic seemed a little too enthusiastic to get back to work on his latest project, and Kaplain knew that his own lethargy could only harm his value as an assistant. Unfortunately, he was unable to sleep at all on the way back to Armadi either, and he knew that trying to get any sleep now would just be a waste of time. Rather than lay awake in bed, he figured he might as well do something useful.

"Yeah, looks like it," Seltic's voice called back to him from around the corner.

Kaplain bit his lip and grasped the welder's handle. "Here goes nothing," he muttered to himself as studied the pieces of metal he was tasked with joining. He had performed such work hundreds of times in the past, before he had been captured and roboticized. But with his memories of anything before the time foggy, he could only hope that his subconscious was more skilled than he thought.

He donned a pair of welding goggles and began securing two sheets of metal together. Seltic appeared as he finished the weld, shielding his eyes from the harmful flare of light. "How's it coming?"

Kaplain sighed and studied the metal join before replying, "I've done better. It should hold though." He placed the combined sheet back onto the table and looked over the schematic again. "You sure you don't have a piece big enough that you can just cut?"

"Yeah, sorry. We haven't been able to find any scraps bigger than half a meter or so long for quite some time." He glanced at the weld and added, "That looks fine, much better than I can do anyway."

With a shrug, Kaplain looked up and asked, "What exactly is this for anyway? All you've shown me is this little diagram."

Seltic flashed him a childish grin and pulled a drawer open on the table. He unrolled a schematic from within a box inside and handed it over. "I didn't write many notes other than measurements, but I guess you can figure it out."

Kaplain analyzed the pictures scribbled out on the sheet for a few moments before replying, "It... looks like a powered suit of some sort."

"Bingo," the tenrec said.

"Well, what's it for? I don't see any weapons on it or anything, and it doesn't look armored."

Seltic leaned up against the table and cleared his throat. "I thought about making it into a weapon platform of some sort, but I realized it would probably only make things worse. In Robotropolis, the only way to survive is to keep moving, and it'd be hard to find cover in this thing."

"I agree with you there, this doesn't look all that maneuverable."

"No, but it doesn't really need to be." Seltic pointed at the untold number of parts and boxes cluttering the room around them and went on, "I mostly figured that I would use it to move heavy stuff around."

"Oh, I see," Kaplain replied. "But, this sort of seems to be a lot of work for that. I guess you had more planned for it?"

Seltic grinned again and chuckled. "Well, I'll just say that there's been plenty of times where I wished I had one. And besides, it's one of the things I've always wanted to build." He studied Kaplain's expression before adding, "If you don't want to waste your time on it, I understand."

Kaplain smiled back and set the schematic on the table. "No, no, it's not that. I was just curious. After all, there's not much else interesting to do around here. And, I do still sort of owe a lot to you."

"Don't worry about it, I'd have done it for anyone." Seltic looked toward a computer screen in a room across from them and went on, "I just wish I had another chance to do the same. You were just about the only robot we could get close to without demolishing it."

Kaplain remained silent in thought over the comment for a few seconds. From what he remembered, it hadn't been his choice to let them get close to him either. The urge to kill or detain anyone who wandered into Robotropolis was completely irresistible, but the mental anguish of doing it was still there. He shunned the thoughts and reminded himself that it was best not to dwell on his past life. As he opened his mouth to comment, he noticed through the window next to them the shifting shadows of someone approaching.

He stepped away from the door to give room to whoever entered, pointing toward the door to let Seltic know someone was coming. Both looked on in expectation as the door slid open to reveal a white mink holding something.

Maya glanced between the two and asked, "Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No ma'am, nothing important," Seltic reassured her. "Come on in."

She stepped inside and looked over the mess on the table next to the door. "Looks like you two were busy doing something. I figured you'd both be in bed or at least taking it easy."

"I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd help Seltic out here," Kaplain replied.

Seltic smiled and added, "Yeah, I couldn't really resist getting back to work." He pointed at the case in her hand and asked, "What's that?"

"It's the binoculars," she replied, lifting the lid up and removing the goggles from inside. She handed them to him and said, "Stanley used them to take some pictures, didn't he?"

"They've got a built in camera?" Kaplain asked.

"Yes, but I'm not exactly certain how you get the pictures out," she answered.

Seltic looked over the various ports and switches on the binoculars for a few moments. "I don't really know for sure either, but I doubt it's that hard. You want me to get them back to you as soon as possible?"

"Whenever you can," she replied with a shrug. "If you can get them by dinner tonight, that would be great. Sooner if you can."

Seltic pried a small memory card from a slot on the binoculars and glanced over it. "Okay, it shouldn't take that long. When is dinner?"

Maya adjusted her glasses and glanced at her watch. "Probably around six, that's four hours."

"No problem then, I'll see what I can make of them," he said as he returned the memory card to their slot for safe keeping. He smiled at Kaplain and added, "We'll be done for today long before then."

* * *

_April 11, 3236_

Well, things certainly turned out differently than we expected. When we got back to the beach today, we ran into Robotnik's robots. We didn't have much of a chance to figure out what they were doing there, because just as soon as we arrived we were driven off. Kyros narrowly escaped being injured by one of the shots, and I'm just glad that we managed to pick them up when we did. I'm still a little concerned about them not chasing us when we left though. There were SWATbot pods around, so they certainly could have. Robotnik seems to prefer having his robots remain around things of importance, so I can't help but worry a little.

Stanley is the only one who got a close up view of what was going on, and his description of the site is exactly what was on the pictures he took. There appear to be four containers of some sort being set up, but it's hard to tell exactly what they're for. Seltic tried his best to enhance the pictures but claims he doesn't have the tools needed. All we know is that they are large enough to hold thousands of liters of liquid, and that they are being guarded by at least a dozen robots. And on top of that, new materials were being shipped in when we left. We just don't know what they might be.

I want to believe that there's nothing to really worry about, but I can't help it. Every time Robotnik does something unusual like this, it turns out to be something bad at the very least. Too often it's far worse.

I know Kyros isn't going to like this, but I think our only choice is to go back and try to figure out what is going on out there. If it's really nothing, then all is well. If we discover something larger underway, then at least we might get the drop on Robotnik. Either way, if we can destroy whatever it is he is building out there we've hurt Robotnik, and anything that does that is worth fighting for.

Everyone is probably too tired to set out tonight though, myself included. We managed to get a day of rest, but having to run from Robotnik wasn't very relaxing. I don't think any of us got very much sleep last night given the torrential raining, and so I think another day of relaxation is in order. We can set out tomorrow when everyone is rested up and ready.

But for now, I've got to go cook in a few minutes. I've been spending too much time worrying about Robotnik and wracking my brain trying to figure out what he might be up to. Kyros might be grumpy about having to head out tomorrow, but he'll be even worse if he's hungry.

* * *

Moments after setting foot into the cafeteria, Kyros knew what was in store for him. Most everyone else was gathered around the center stage, sitting in their normal assigned seats. Seltic and his sister were busy conversing with each other, but most of the others were sitting quietly, either nearly asleep or lost in their own thoughts. As usual Maya wasn't present yet, but judging by the smell emanating from the kitchen behind him Kyros knew it would only be a few minutes before she turned up and spelled out the trip back to the beach to them.

He stared on in apathy for a second before taking his customary seat, convinced by hundreds of such meetings that he might as well just go ahead and accept that it was coming. No sooner had he sat down than he saw Tantalus entering the building. The squirrel met his gaze and began approaching him toward his own usual seat.

"Looks like you were right," he said to Kyros as he took his seat. "I guess Maya's going to send us out soon."

Kyros' eyes snapped open and he looked over to him in with an irritated expression. "Did she say that already?"

"Uh, no, she hasn't said anything yet," Tantalus replied. "Isn't that what you expected?"

Kyros leaned back in his chair and let out a relieved sigh. "Yeah, but I hope she doesn't send us out tonight. We just got back." He pointed at Kaplain nodding off in front of them and added, "I don't think most us are ready to head back into the fray."

"Good point, I hope you're right." Tantalus sat silently for a moment before noticing the door behind them beginning to swing open. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. Looks like it's time to get started."

As he predicted Maya stepped through the door, wiping her hands clean with a dish rag. She stepped up to the platform at the far end of the room and sat the rag onto the podium. After a brief check to ensure that everyone of importance was present, she cleared her throat and addressed the room, "Alright everyone, I just wanted to have a quick talk with you all before we ate tonight."

At the sight of the group perking up and trying to pay attention, she said, "I guess most of you already know what I'm going to say, but I think it's important that we get on the same page here.

"I'm sure you all remember the incident earlier today where we ran into Robotnik's robots out on the beach, and most of you probably understand how important it is that we make sure that what Robotnik is doing out there isn't a huge concern."

Kyros rolled his eyes and sat up. "And it's not a huge concern," he mumbled to himself.

Maya tried to ignore his commentary and went on, "We don't know a whole lot about it yet, of course, but there are a few basic things that are certain." She flipped the power switch on an ancient overhead projector and grimaced as the smell of smoldering dust met her nose. As the blurry image of a pair of giant storage containers lit up against the wall she pointed and said, "It's obvious that whatever Robotnik intends to build out there, he's storing large amounts of something. It could be something as innocent as water, or something as bad as explosives or poison."

She exchanged the sheet on the projector for another displaying a similar image and continued, "Whatever they hold, there seems to have been four such containers while we were there. Seltic tells me that they could theoretically hold enough toxins to kill everyone on the continent if it was the right substance.

"Thankfully, Robotnik isn't normally that subtle, but with nearly eight years of failure behind him I'd say that he is liable to try anything at any time." She nodded toward Seltic and added, "But, Seltic and I arrived at the conclusion that it's most likely just something like a fuel processing plant. While that's not something to get too worked up over, I think I speak for everyone when I say that the opportunity to destroy it is a worthwhile objective either way."

She swapped the image again, revealing a worker robot lifting a construction beam. "But, like anything, the site is defended and I don't want to send you all out on a dangerous assignment when someone could get killed over potentially nothing." She leaned against the podium and looked out over the crowd below. "Does anyone object, or have anything else to say about the matter?"

Kyros contemplated the idea of recommending that they just ignore it, but he knew she did have some reasonable points. He wanted to believe that there was nothing to it, but there was always the small chance there was. If nothing else, he wanted to get back at whatever robot had been responsible for blasting a hole in his coat. He decided not to interfere, but if someone else decided to object he wouldn't try to stop them.

As Stanley began to speak up, he dropped any hope of an objection. "Well, I think that really is something to it," the porcupine said amid the silence. "If you look at the photos you'll notice that all of the robots appear to be Sahrians. That seems a little odd, don't you think?"

Maya nodded and replied, "Yes, I agree. I normally wouldn't think anything of it, but since they all seem to be from Sahria, it seems to me that Robotnik had them brought here for a reason."

"Short on workers? That's my best guess." Seltic asked.

Kaplain looked up and said, "It sounds reasonable. Robotnik didn't bring in foreigners too often while I was around, and if he brought in a group specifically to work on this project it could be something big."

Vladimir crossed his arms and said, "Sounds like a plan to me, then."

At the silence that followed, Maya stood upright and shut off the projector. "It's settled then. Unless anyone disagrees, we can leave tomorrow around noon. That way everyone can have a chance to rest up."

She smiled at the nodding approval she received and said, "Alright then, the food's ready whenever you're all ready. We were a little short of supplies, so all I could scrounge together were some sandwiches."

* * *

The sound of the seal of the SWATbot pod's hatch popping open did little to ease Tantalus' nerves. He tried to extinguish the raging thoughts in his head as the smell of fresh air entering the cabin caught his nose, and took a deep breath to try and savor the scent. Any time he went near Robotropolis or Robotnik, it took him hours to get used to the acrid odor that always followed. He cradled the laser rifle braced against him and gave it a quick visual inspection. On these missions it was his best friend.

As he stood from his seat he caught sight of Kaplain nervously looking up and taking short shallow breaths. Even after a year of sporadic firefights with Robotnik's minions, Kaplain still hadn't gotten accustomed to it completely. Tantalus painfully recalled his own memories of his first encounters with the legions of robots that Robotnik used as warriors, and asked, "You going to be okay?"

Kaplain took a deep breath and grabbed his own weapon with a nervous frown. "I think so. I'm just a little worked up."

"I know how it is, you'll be fine," he offered. "Just remember to be careful."

Kaplain nodded and stood, falling in line behind the others as they filed out of the ship. "I know," he replied after a moment.

Outside, Tantalus could see Kyros conversing with Maya. As he drew close, the subject matter was immediately obvious.

"So, you want to remain close to the ships again just in case?" Kyros asked her.

Maya surveyed the gathering group and replied, "Yeah, just in case. How do you want to split up?"

"We're probably going to need as many guns as we can get, so I guess we can split up into pairs if that sounds good. You and Marcus can stick together and stay sort of close to the pods." He looked over the group and went on, "So, that could be me and Tantalus, you and Marcus, Stanley and Vlad, and Seltic, Sissera and Kaplain together. That sound good to everyone?"

At the silence that followed, Kyros slung his rifle over his shoulder and said, "Alright then everyone, grab everything you need and spread out. Each group needs a radio set, I'll give the order to open fire whenever it comes to that." He glanced at Seltic and asked, "You've got something to blow the place right?"

"I brought this," Seltic replied, raising a brick of clay-like material to eye level. "This is plasticized HMX. You won't be able to tell this place was here after it goes off, but it takes some time to set up and detonate, so keep that in mind. We can't just chuck it and run."

Kyros turned toward the direction of the beach and said, "Alright then. From our position we should be able to surround about two thirds of the construction site and remain in cover inside the woods. Move out and keep an eye out for sentries."

He stepped off, followed by the chorus of boots and shoes crunching on fallen tree branches and dried leaves. Tantalus moved up beside him, weapon raised for immediate use, and quietly asked, "Have you got a plan?"

"The simplest plan in the world, and one that seems to work more often than not against Robotnik."

"In other words, we surround the robots and when the moment's right we just open fire and hope to cut them down before they can retaliate?" Tantalus replied, ducking a low branch.

Kyros stopped and stared off for a moment before answering, "I thought I saw a bot, be careful. Anyway, yeah, that's the plan. The robots are always so busy doing whatever Robotnik has set them to that they rarely see it coming."

"Yeah, I know. I just hope there aren't too many security bots around, because if anything is looking out for us they will be."

The two continued winding their way through the thinning forest for a couple of minutes until the signs of Robotnik's presence was beginning to become apparent. The sounds of air drills and rivet hammers in the distance began to set Tantalus on edge again, and the shadows of robots crossing between trees in the distance was becoming obvious. Tantalus donned a pair of long range sight goggles from a pouch hanging from his belt and tried to make out any details he could.

"See anything of interest?" Kyros asked after some time.

"It's hard to say," he replied, lowering the goggles. "I think I see some new robots though, there are a couple of jackals cutting down trees."

"Then they're making more room for something," Kyros added unnecessarily. "I guess it's a good thing we came after all." He crouched down and scanned the horizon for a few seconds before motioning for Tantalus to follow. "Try to stay as quiet as possible, we've got to get closer."

Tantalus slipped into a position behind Kyros and began crawling after him toward the edge of the woods. He felt his heart skip a beat as the glowing red eyes of a robot passed through his gaze, and he scarcely managed to fight the impulse to raise his weapon and open fire. As Kyros made a break for a small bank of sand behind a fallen tree, he dove into the cover in turn.

"Alright, this is about as close as we can get without getting spotted," Kyros whispered to him. "All we've got to do now is sit tight and wait for the others to get into position."

* * *

Sissera performed a last second check of her plasma gun and looked over to her two comrades. "How is the security?"

"I think I see at least three security robots," Seltic replied, returning to cover behind the bundle of trees she hid behind. "Two zebras and a hyena seem to be doing nothing but walking around and staring into the woods."

Kaplain joined them and added, "Yeah, that's what I see too. It seems that the three of them are running security, but it's impossible to tell if any of them are combat specialists." He peered around the corner and continued, "Don't forget that the workers are lightly armed too."

"I won't forget," Sissera reassured him, it wasn't like she'd never encountered them before. She glanced at the radio handset hanging from Seltic's belt and tried to gather her thoughts before the carnage that would begin any moment. "We're waiting for Kyros' signal right?"

"Yeah, could be any-," Seltic replied before being cut off by a low chime from the radio set. He cut her a smirk and raised the set to his ear.

"Okay everyone, I think we're all in position. Pick your targets and get ready. There's a zebra that looks like a security bot near the center of the construction site, as soon as I hit it, open fire," Kyros spoke over the radio. "If something goes wrong, make a run for it and let Maya know."

Seltic placed the radio set back onto his belt and raised his weapon in preparation. He crept around the corner of the trees and said, "Alright you two, there's a couple of workers right over there, I've got the antelope."

Sissera moved around the opposite side of their cover and drew her aim to the group of workers. She eyed the antelope Seltic mentioned and instead targeted a jackal nearby. She pointed out a lioness shifting crates of supplies and said to Kaplain, "Take that one."

As he nodded and raised his weapon to eye level, she sporadically glanced back and forth between her target and the woods across from them. She didn't want to miss Kyros' signal, as it could result in a critical waste of time and possibly even mean the difference between life and death. Just as she was about to change position to alleviate her cramping muscles, the beam of light she had been waiting for appeared.

A dozen beams of blue energy stabbed out from the woods across from them, exploding against the unsuspecting machines. The zebra Kyros had targeted was thrown from its feet, reeling from the blasts that had removed half of its face. Its partner and all of the other robots instantly dropped their current tasks and began converging around the erected containers. While the remaining security forces began to return fire, Sissera watched as Seltic's plasma gun activated.

The antelope that was mid stride was blown into the air by the exploding blast of energy, removing one of its arms and punching hundreds of small holes in its body. Sissera immediately followed the attack with her own shot, hurling the jackal from its feet. It slammed into a pile of construction materials as it tumbled along, drawing the attention of the remaining assembly of robots.

The lioness that was racing toward the facility had now changed direction and was beginning to raise its arm weapon in their direction. Sissera drew aim at it in preparation to destroy it too, but was beaten to the opportunity by charged particle beams lancing from Kaplain's rifle and piercing its body. It shrieked in pain as the first beam sliced through its arm, and it fell to one knee in confusion and surprise. The remaining beams impacted its chest and head, immediately deactivating it in a shower of sparks and electrical arcing despite the complete lack of obvious physical damage.

As more and more fire began to pour from the woods from multiple locations, the robots were caught in a chaotic crossfire. The machines that weren't cut down were forced to fire sporadically back into the woods as they charged blindly back at their foes.

Sissera noted a handful of damaged robots beginning to rise back to their feet and stagger after the functional ones in their approach. "Get ready guys, they're headed this way," she called to her company.

* * *

"See, this is working out perfectly," Kyros muttered to Tantalus as he snapped off a few more shots in the general direction of the handful of approaching robots.

Tantalus fired the rest of his clip into an oncoming gazelle and watched as it determinedly staggered onward and collapsed into a heap. "I guess so, but there's still plenty of them out there." He watched as Kyros finished off the zebra from before with another shot to the head, diving back into his cover as dozens of small impacts began to throw dirt up around him. He puzzled over the strange thumping sound of the weapon firing at him for an instant before calling to Kyros, "Hey, that other zebra is armed with an auto slug rifle."

Kyros shot him a confused expression and slipped into a better position. "Are you sure? Those haven't even been manufactured in two decades." As a particle spattered against a tree in front of him and showered him in shredded bark, he added, "I guess so. Be extra careful, our armor isn't very good at stopping those shots."

Tantalus prepared to look back over their cover to continue the assault, but was interrupted by the sight of a robot approaching from within the forest. "Watch it!" he shouted to Kyros as he opened fire at their new opponent.

The machine dodged his shots and began bounding toward them. As it drew close, he recognized it as the meerkat from the photos back in Armadi. He began aiming his weapon at it moments before Kyros interrupted, "I've got this."

Kyros' shots went wild as the meerkat closed too quickly. It landed between the two and began slashing wildly at him with its short claws. "I will present your corpse as a gift to Lord Robotnik!" it shouted between attempts to hit Kyros. Tantalus tried to take aim at it, but hesitated as it continued to dart around too quickly to follow and exposed Kyros to possible shots.

An instant later, Kyros landed a shot on its arm, driving it back a few steps and halting its frenzied attacks. He prepared to finish the job, but was caught off guard by it jumping backward and scowling with an evil glare. The typical crimson glow of its eyes flickered before blaring with incredible intensity, and Kyros instantly assumed that it was preparing an attack. He placed his rifle between himself and the robot and began to dive for cover an instant before the glowing culminated in blasts of laser light jumping from its eyes.

The laser beams hammered into his chest, spraying fragments of his armor and charred clothing. He groaned in mild pain and was vaguely aware of the meerkat standing over him with a sickening sneer on its face. It snatched the rifle from his hands and crushed it in its grip, echoing a deep crunch as the fragments of plastic fell away from the cracked casing.

Tantalus found an opportunity to attack and opened fire, placing a precision beam through its back. It grunted in confusion and stumbled forward a few steps past Kyros before regaining its footing. As it turned to engage him, Tantalus noticed Kyros moving.

In the blink of an eye, the robot was knocked from its feet by lasers raking its lower body. It clawed at the dirt where it was laid out, desperately trying to regain its footing despite a shattered knee and hip. Its enraged face twisted to confusion as it caught sight of a clear fluid dripping from gaping holes in its unarmored midsection, boiling away as it hit the ground. It collapsed onto its back and closed its eyes as if in pain. "Warning, my radiator is damaged! All units clear out!" it shouted anonymously into the sky.

Tantalus placed the barrel of his rifle in its face and prepared to pull the trigger, but relented as it continued, "Attempting to shut down to avoid generator overheat, please stand by..." It groaned and slowly closed its eyes as the life drained from its body.

The squirrel glanced back over to where Kyros was to find him standing, with a furious expression and a pistol drawn. "That was my favorite rifle," he muttered. Both stared blankly at the fallen meerkat for a few seconds until another spattering of solid metal slugs zipped past them, some shells mushrooming against the metal armor of the robot and others embedding themselves in the trees and dirt around them.

"Sorry, but we've got bigger things to worry about," Tantalus replied, pointing toward the battle continuing behind them. As they both raced back to their cover at the edge of the woods, they caught sight of only a pair of robots remaining in the battle. A robotic zebra stared in their direction and opened fire with the automatic slug rifle build into its arm once more, moments before being shredded by a salvo of fire from any one of his group.

Kyros observed the final defender and commented, "I guess that's a combat robot."

Tantalus watched as the roboticized hyena shouted something inchoerent in its female modulated voice and ignored repeated impacts from lasers. It sprayed a gout of fire from a flame thrower in its mouth and bathed a section of woods in the immolating fuel. "I think you're right," he added as it single-handedly smashed a tree from the ground and continued to breathe flames.

Kyros pulled out the radio and shouted into it, "Everyone focus fire on the hyena, it's the only way we're going to bring it down. I'll lure it away from the woods."

Before Tantalus could protest, he watched as Kyros leaped over a fallen tree and darted out into the open beach ahead. The echidna poured fire from his pistol at the hyena and raced toward the relative safety of the containers a distance away. Tantalus watched in concern as the hyena took the bait and turned to face him. Bursts of plasma zipped from the robot's weapons as it began to give chase, halting only when it was hit by particularly strong impacts.

As Kyros had orchestrated, volleys of fire began to pour from the woods into the robot. It shrieked in pain as dozens of laser beams began to blow hunks of its advanced armor into vapor, and it began to slow to a determined stagger as it was pummeled by repeated shots. With each step it was transfixed in a crossfire of laser beams or hammered by plasma blasts. As it neared Kyros, its arm weapons had already been sheared away or obliterated completely, and it was beginning to collapse.

A final blast shredded through its ruined body and struck its flame thrower's fuel tank. It screeched as it was forcefully gutted by the explosion, and in an instant it collapsed to the ground wreathed in flames, motionless.

Tantalus waited several seconds to confirm that the battle had ended before emerging from his cover. As he stood, the unmistakable sound of metal plinking against metal met his hears. At his feet he found a deformed rifle slug resting atop the metal tip of his boot, and he immediately traced it back to a deep gouge in his armor. A nauseating chill ran through his body as he realized how close to being killed he had been, and he thanked his common sense for bringing the armor. But even with it, the shot could have still easily penetrated his body and severed a major artery and resulted in fatal bleeding.

He took a moment to calm himself and regain his composure before slowly picking his way through the trees toward the clearing where the others had begun emerging from their hideouts. As he began to set foot onto the sand of the beach, he halted at the sound of a branch snapping behind him. He whirled around and raised his gun to eye level.

He felt his stomach lurch at the sight of a SWATbot standing an arm's reach away. How he had missed its approach he had no clue, but he knew the best course of action to take. He squeezed the trigger of his weapon and placed several precision beams into the robot, certain that it would be enough to fell it, just as it had to many scores before it. He stared on in horrified confusion as it merely shook under the impacts, undamaged and unfazed.

As it raised its own weapon he froze. "I surrender," he squeaked at last, dropping his weapon. He knew that the SWATbot would prefer to take him alive if possible, and it was his best chance to survive at this point. The tactic had saved his life once before.

To his horror, it droned, "No prisoners." A blinding flash of blue energy stabbed out of its arm weapon mount, and he was suddenly aware of the tree behind him exploding and showering him with fragments of bark. An incredible burning pain beyond anything he had ever experienced before began to overcome his body, and his vision began to fade into blackness. The vague sound of weapons firing in his direction was the last thing he experienced before he collapsed to the ground and his consciousness faded away.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Armadi_

_6:22 PM_

In the instants following the SWATbot pod touching down next to the infirmary, the pent up energy of everyone inside was unleashed. Unlike the lethargic pace from the day before, the group thundered outside of the pod as the hatch slid open, bursting into the evening dusk. Seltic nervously paused a few meters away from the ship and shifted about as he watched Sissera and Vladimir unload Tantalus from the other pod, the two carefully but hurriedly carrying the blood-plastered stretcher down the ramp of the ship and hustling off. He glanced around as the others began to congregate around the downed pods, his eyes meeting Maya's briefly. He watched as she began to follow after Tantalus but hesitated charging after himself.

She removed her glasses and covered her eyes with her hand, fighting back tears and muffled crying. As he tried to think of something to say, she replaced her glasses and took a few shallow breaths. "Everyone, j-just stay here for a second." She wiped her eyes and looked away from the group before continuing, "Sissera doesn't need all of us crowding her."

As she trotted off toward the infirmary, Seltic caught sight of Kyros. Seltic hadn't been anywhere near Tantalus when he was shot, but Kyros might would know something. He wrung his hands and stepped toward Kyros.

He looked the echidna over and tried to think of something to ask, but was interrupted as he took notice.

"What?" Kyros asked as he pulled his attention away from the scene unfolding a short distance away.

"I... I didn't see what happened to him, I was just wondering if you did," he answered after an awkward pause.

Kyros raised an eyebrow. "The SWATbot, remember?"

"Yeah, I know, I mean... how bad was it? Everything happened so fast."

Kyros sighed and looked down before answering, "I don't know. I wasn't with him when it happened. It looked like the beam went right through... if he lived long enough to get back here I guess he wasn't hit anywhere vital."

"But the blood? It was a SWATbot laser, right?"

"I don't know," Kyros said with another sigh. He crossed his arms and looked away with a scowl. "There was some solid slug fire too... I just don't know what happened. Vlad carried him back." He looked up and added, "I just can't believe I left him there like that. If I hadn't charged off to distract that stupid hyena I could have stopped the SWATbot."

"Maybe..." Seltic replied, looking down. "How was he when you got back... was he responsive?"

Kyros shook his head. "Nope, he was out cold when I got there. It's the first time he's been shot like that."

"I can't imagine..."

"No, you can't. Not until it happens," Kyros reiterated, nervously rubbing the scar beneath his shirt where he had first been seriously injured years ago. "If I made it through that, he can make it through this." He looked off toward the infirmary once more and continued, "But I guess I was lucky. I'm going to see if I can find anything out."

Seltic mulled over Maya's request to leave them alone but decided not to stop Kyros. Given the circumstances he could hardly be blamed, and he too desperately wanted to know everything as it developed. As Kyros disappeared into the building, Seltic leaned up against the hover pod behind him and thrust his hands into his pockets. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. The events over the last few hours had been very unusual and he was finding it hard to process them as his thoughts raced.

Tantalus being injured was certainly just a coincidence, but the events surrounding it were very strange. The significant armed security presence at the sight surely meant that there was something of importance there, and the combat robot at the site meant that Robotnik wasn't taking chances with it. Then there was the matter of the robots all being Sahrians, and seeing SWATbots so far from Robotropolis was unusual...

Seltic stared blankly at the dirt around his boots as he pondered the circumstances around the SWATbot they had encountered. Something was strange about it too, but he couldn't decide exactly what. SWATbots were normally so inferior that their weapons couldn't penetrate the sort of armor Tantalus wore, and he couldn't understand why Tantalus' own weapons hadn't demolished it at such a range. Surely it was all just chance. They had to be unlucky sometimes, and even Robotnik had his moments.

His thoughts were interrupted by Stanley strolling toward the pod, a solemn expression etched onto his face. As he drew near he said, "Maya wants me to move the ships back to the garage."

"Alright," Seltic replied, pushing off from the pod and making room for Stanley to pass by. As the porcupine ascended the boarding ramp and shut the door, Seltic stepped away from the pod and began trudging toward his half of the building that he shared with his sister.

The others around him had all begun to cluster around the door of Sissera's side of the building or head back to their own houses, hushed conversations intermixing too haphazardly for him to make anything out. He punched the password key into the pad on the side entrance of the building and pulled the door open as quietly as possible to avoid disturbing the work going on a few rooms away.

With a sigh he pulled off the heavy coat he customarily wore on missions and placed it on the rack next to the door, and began to make his way up the stairs. He had no idea when he would know anything new about Tantalus, and he needed something to take his mind off of the situation. He hated feeling helpless like this... there was nothing he could do to help Tantalus or his sister and he was going to worry himself sick. If nothing else, the computers would be monitoring radio traffic from Robotropolis like usual. Perhaps if he was lucky Robotnik would get careless and send something important over the radio to let them know something about what was going on.

After the events surrounding the satellites over a year ago however, he wasn't hopeful. If nothing else, Robotnik did fix glaring mistakes. Even then the transmissions of importance were encrypted so that it was impossible to decipher them, but right now he didn't care. He just needed to feel like he was doing something important, since he wouldn't be of any use at all to Sissera.

From the top of the stairs, he could already hear the distinct chime that the computers made when they encountered a problem. As he pushed the door open and entered the room, a series of dark red computer screens stared back. He let out an irritated groan and slumped into the nearest seat.

The computers surrounding him barraged him with the same error, "Power brownout detected. System halted to prevent hardware damage."

After another groan he leaned to the side and place his face in his hand. As if things weren't bad enough already, it looked like he had rewiring or generator repair work to do. He thought for a moment more and switched all of the computers off. He didn't feel like sorting the problem out now, and if nothing else the significance of the computers' malfunctions really didn't compare to what was going on downstairs.

He sat in silence for a few seconds, trying to calm the queasy feeling in his stomach. He had a very bad feeling about Tantalus. They had been inexplicably lucky to have been fighting Robotnik for nearly eight years and having never had any be killed. The thought of a possible funeral service sent a chill through his body, and he could no longer fight the urge to go back downstairs. He had to know what was going to happen, or at least whatever Sissera knew.

He pulled himself to his feet and nervously began making his way back downstairs. At the base of the stairwell, he could hear the excited voices of Sissera and Maya coming from the other side of the building. Determined to understand what they were saying, he began creeping toward and through the hallway separating their halves of the building.

As he leaned up against the door to listen, he heard Maya weakly utter, "Alright then... I suppose I should tell the others."

Seltic felt his heart begin to race and the nausea return at the revelation about to unfold. He began to backtrack and leave the building before Maya found him eavesdropping, but hesitated as the doorway slid open. Even in the dust choked darkness of the hallway, the tear-matted fur around her eyes was evident and her tired posture spoke volumes. Had he... died?

She stammered for a second at seeing Seltic so suddenly, but went on, "Seltic... where are the others?"

He swallowed hard and squeaked, "Outside. H-how is he?"

She paused again and sniffled. "Not good. But he is alive." She wiped her eyes and looked away before adding, "Go get the others... tell them to meet in the cafeteria as soon as possible."

* * *

Maya paused at the entrance of the cafeteria. She wiped her eyes and nose once more and adjusted her glasses before weakly forcing the swinging door open. Sissera's words and expression told her everything she needed to know about Tantalus' condition, and she didn't know how she could find the heart to tell the others. They had to be worried to death as it was, even if they had managed to keep it together so far.

Despite the silence that fell on her ears as the door swung open, she made out the images of everyone sitting in the auditorium area. As the door's aging hinges groaned shut behind her, a dozen eyes turned and fixated on her. She took a few uneasy breaths and began shuffling toward the stage, sparking a number of hushed conversations. She felt the strength leave her body as she ascended the stage and looked out over the group.

She shook off the crippling uneasiness at the sight of everyone's worried

expressions and spoke, "Everyone... I have something... difficult to say." Immediately the talking ceased, every member of the group now staring at her with wide eyes.

Again she fought for the will to go on and choked out, "Tantalus... Sissera doesn't think he's going to make it."

"What happened?" Kyros demanded. "I thought he wasn't hit as bad as she first thought."

Maya shook her head and slumped onto the podium before her. "No, you're right. I... don't remember exactly what she said... but the heat mostly cauterized the wound." She wiped new tears from her eyes and muttered, "But it didn't matter... she said it hit his kidney, and that he was beginning to bleed too much. There isn't much she can do... we don't have the medical supplies that she needs."

Silence fell over the room for a few seconds before Stanley chimed in, "But... what about Princess Acorn? Maybe they have something that could help."

Maya shook her head again and looked up. "They might... but we can't get them on the radio. It was the first thing that I tried."

"Wait, so it is something we could get from them and Tantalus would live that long?" Kyros asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Maya sighed. "Well... the biggest problem is that we don't have any artificial blood supplies or something. We don't have the technology to test anyone's blood to try donating, and if we got it wrong it would certainly kill him." She looked away and added, "Sissera didn't know how long he will live without it, but she thought it would be at least a day or so."

Kyros stood up and exclaimed, "Then why are we still here? Why aren't we on the way to Robotropolis to steal some?"

"I-I don't know. I hoped that Princess Sally would be able to bring the supplies to us... I didn't want to leave Tantalus like this..." She trailed off and shut her eyes, whimpering, "If he didn't make it..." She placed her face in her hands and stifled a few tears. "And if this happened to another one of you right now... I don't think I could take it."

"Forget it," Kyros replied. "If there's a chance we can save him by doing it, then I don't care about the risk." He cut his eyes across the group and he asked, "Anyone else with me? If I have to go alone I will."

Kaplain stood and said, "I'm in. I owe it to you all." Moments later, everyone else in the room stood and let out an incomprehensible chorus of agreement.

Maya stood erect and blinked a few times before saying, "A-Alright then. I agree too, let's do whatever we can to save him." She hopped down from the stage with renewed energy and added, "Let me go check on him and tell Sissera. We'll work out the search plan on the way."

* * *

"Are we not wasting time being here?" Vladimir asked Kyros as he emerged from the SWATbot pod.

Kyros glared through the dark night at the storage containers a few meters away. He stepped off toward the nearest one and motioned for Seltic to approach. "Maybe, but it wasn't far off course, and I think a few minutes is worth getting revenge for Tantalus." Not to mention the others were headed to Robotropolis separately and would be there soon. With any luck they would find what they needed.

"I doubt the time will make much of a difference," Seltic added as he removed a clay explosive from a crate. "We're either going to find the supplies we need quickly and be back well before we need to... or not find them at all."

"If you insist," the badger replied, removing another pack of explosives. "Robotnik doesn't appear to have replaced the security detail yet."

Kyros dropped a can of liquid explosive next to a bomb placed by Seltic and said, "It makes me wonder if this place was really of any importance at all. If Robotnik cared about it there would have been enough bots in the area to have replaced them immediately."

"All the more reason to make sure we make it worth everything I guess," Seltic said. He inspected another explosive charge and went on, "Either way, there won't be anything left of this place when we hit the button. I wish we had the time to study what was here though."

"Don't get distracted," Kyros replied. "I wish we didn't have a reason to be in such a hurry either, but we really do need to make this quick."

"I know, I know. Just a couple more."

Kyros stepped over the ruined remains of a roboticized zebra and hurled a pack of explosives at the furthest container. As the bomb clanged against the metal cylinder, he backtracked to the pod and watched as the other two placed a few more explosives. "That all?" he asked as Seltic trotted over to him and closed the crate at the entry ramp to the pod.

Seltic shot him a sarcastic expression and said, "No need to use all of them, this should be extreme overkill like it is." His expression changed to concern. "Especially if the stuff is explosive in the first place."

As Vladimir returned too, Kyros said, "Great then, let's hurry out of here."

"Okay, just make sure we're a kilometer from here before the bombs are set off," Seltic replied. "It would really suck to have the pod be damaged in the explosion and get stranded out here."

* * *

Kaplain shifted into a more comfortable position atop the pile of rubble that was once a building, taking care to not lose his footing and noisily tumble into the alley next to them. From a short distance away, he could make out the motions of Stanley edging them onward. He carefully navigated his way down the sloping pile of debris down to the intersection where Stanley waited.

As he helped Maya down to his level he said, "It's a good thing we left Marcus with Sissera, we can move a lot faster without him."

"I know... I just hope I'm not holding us up too much," she replied, inching her way to the relative cover of the next building over. She awkwardly leveled a laser pistol down the alley and watched for a moment for any movement. "At least Robotnik's robots don't seem too interested in this area."

As the two stepped into the dark street, Stanley motioned for them to move up. He glanced at Maya and said, "You sure there was a hospital in this area before Robotnik took over?"

"No... I'm not certain, but I have a feeling this is where one of the larger ones was in Mobotropolis." She looked around briefly and added, "I've been there a few times over my life... but everything looks so different now."

"Every other building is in ruins or completely gone, it's nothing like I remember," Kaplain added. "But then again, I didn't go into Mobotropolis that often."

As they moved along Stanley spoke up, "I take it that you weren't stationed anywhere near here while you worked for the good doctor then."

He shook his head. "No, this is probably fifty kilometers from where I typically patrolled."

"Do you know anything about this area at all? Did you ever hear of Robotnik demolishing any hospitals or anything?" Maya asked.

Kaplain continued to follow Stanley, carefully checking every alley they passed for movement or glowing eyes. He sighed and answered, "I don't know... my memories from my time as a robot are hazy at best. Some things I remember well, mostly important things like where to patrol... and fights. Other things like passing conversations from Robotnik or Snively are hard to remember."

"I see." Maya slowed to a stop at three way intersection. She looked down the two possible paths and groaned in frustration. "I wish Seltic was here right now, we don't have a map to work from."

"Are we going to meet up with them?" Stanley asked.

"Yes, eventually. They were coming in from the west and were going to check another possible hospital site before meeting up with us halfway back. Until then though, I don't want to risk raising them on the radio, if it would even reach them."

Kaplain stared down one of the paths and studied their surroundings. He glanced at the other path and said, "Well, if my memory serves at all, if we head west then we'd be leaving Robotropolis, right?"

After receiving confirming nods from his companions he went on, "I doubt an important hospital would be near the outskirts of Mobotropolis, so shouldn't we try going north instead?" He paused in thought for a moment. "Then again, if the hospital was very much further into Robotropolis Robotnik would probably have leveled it by now and replaced it with something more productive."

Stanley eyed Maya and asked, "Alright then, so, which way?"

"I don't know, either way could be the right way." She stared into the pavement for a second before adding, "I guess we should head west. I don't distrust you Kaplain, it's just that you're probably right about Robotnik destroying anything further in. Plus, if we head west, then we can meet up with the others faster if we need to."

He shrugged and strolled off after Stanley, raising his particle rifle in readiness. "It's your call, like you said either way could be it."

Further up the road, Stanley suddenly crouched and waived to the two. They jogged to his position as quietly as possible and threw themselves down next to him. "I saw a spy-eye up ahead. I think it was alone."

"Where at?" Kaplain whispered, studying the maze of roads around them. An almost imperceptible hum met his ears as he scanned the horizon, his ears settling at a building on the corner of an intersection ahead. "There?"

Stanley nodded, raising his weapon in the direction of the interloper. Kaplain pushed Stanley's weapon down and offered his own. "Wait, use the particle rifle. If you just shoot it, the radio might still work long enough to alert local security."

With a nod, Stanley took the rifle and took aim. An instant later as the small spherical robot left its cover, a faint blue pulse flashed at the barrel of the particle rifle. An incredible flash of light filled the streets for an instant as the charged particles fried and overloaded every circuit in the machine, showering the street in sparks and bolts of electricity. As it clanged to the ground below, bathing its surroundings with light from small internal flames, Stanley returned the rifle and led the two into an adjacent alley.

As they dove into the pitch black cover of the alley and took up positions to watch for other robots, Kaplain said, "Perfect. The local security computers probably didn't catch that, the bot won't go missing for a few hours."

"Which is all the time we have any way," Maya replied. "Is the coast clear?"

Stanley nodded and stepped into the street. "Let's get moving then. We know Robotnik has surveillance in the area at least."

"There's no way to know if there's going to be more, best we keep wary," Kaplain added. He trotted after Stanley, keeping an eye out to make sure that Maya wasn't falling behind. The three passed through half a dozen more crossways and intersections as they traversed the maze of streets in the general direction of west. As they picked their way along, the dour burnt out and decaying buildings around them began to be replaced by newer buildings of various sizes and varieties.

"It looks like we're getting close to a storage area or something," Kaplain said as he studied a nearby building.

"There doesn't look like much security is around," Maya replied. "Are you sure?"

He nodded and replied, "Yeah, but it might be abandoned too. Robotnik was notorious for doing that... he'd demolish something and build a garage or warehouse, then figure out that he didn't need it or couldn't defend it." He glanced over the dim windows of a number of buildings. "Yeah, probably abandoned. Doesn't look like anything is going on."

"Unidentified voices, possible contacts," the team heard something call from out of sight.

They immediately scrambled for cover, barreling toward one of the supposedly empty storage sheds. The unmistakable glow of a robot's eyes appeared from within the shelter, snapping open in surprise as it noticed the three. It tossed aside a crate and pointed in their direction before shouting, "Intruders! Halt in the name of Lord Robotnik and surrender yourselves!"

Maya froze momentarily at the sudden change of events. She fumbled with the pistol in her hands before dropping it clumsily onto the asphalt pavement below. The roboticized coyote dove at her, grabbing at her limbs in an attempt to subdue her.

She gasped as its immense weight plowed into her, slamming her from her feet and sending her sprawling onto the ground. As it pursued after her, a dozen red shafts of light pierced its body, knocking it off balance. It stumbled a few steps before turning to face its attacker, pausing a moment in confusion as noxious fumes poured from the rents in its armor. "Robotnik will have your head," it growled, raising its arm in Stanley's direction.

Kaplain raised his own weapon and snapped off a few shots, hitting the robot's arm squarely and grazing its face. The machine howled in pain and drew its arm back. It staggered backward and covered the damaged spot on its face in an imitation of its previously organic nature. The fumes pouring from its body began to intensify after a moment, followed by the robot collapsing to its knees.

"Generator damaged... battery failure," it muttered weakly. "Shutting down..."

As it slumped to one side and let out a final muffled sigh, Stanley and Kaplain rushed to Maya's side and helped her to her feet. She leaned against Stanley and gasped a few times to catch her breath, covering her face with one hand.

She embraced the two and let out a nervous chuckle. "Thank you... I thought it had me for sure."

Stanley nodded and said, "Don't worry about it. Now, come on, with two bots down it's not going to be long before Robotnik takes interest."

* * *

As a light breeze rolled through the woods and rustled the fallen leaves, something stirred. At the edge of the beach, partially buried in mud and fragments of ceramic and metal, the form of a robot twitched. Artificial joints groaned and grit-choked gears ground as its body shifted slightly, revealing the ravaged remains of a robotic meerkat.

"Thermo-dynamic battery charge cycle complete," it blurted out into the darkness around it. "Critical damage detected, generator off line. Should I reboot?"

After an eternal silence it continued, "Command not received. Reverting to autonomous operation. Please wait."

Its tense, unnatural pose went limp as its eyelids slid shut, followed by a weak groan as its systems came back on line. Its eyes tracked across the sky and treetops around it as it scanned its surroundings, its view limited by its position on its back. It flexed its joints and called out, "Squad mates, report."

Its radio was inoperative, and the silence it received back told it everything it needed to know. With a determined thrust it rocked onto its feet, followed by the sound of damaged metal in its hip and knee snapping or grinding aimlessly. The damaged joints instantly collapsed under its weight, spraying the area around it in particles of shattered gears and sparks. Its damage was more severe than it thought, and its battery would only sustain it for a few more minutes.

From its prone position it dug its clawed hands into the dirt and pulled itself clear of the woods, revealing the annihilated remains of the storage facility it had been tasked with guarding. Small fires dotted the landscape around it, highlighting the darkness-shrouded chunks of debris remaining. Its enhanced vision scoured the devastated beachhead, picking out the destroyed husks of the security forces and workers. Dr. Robotnik would need to know about this.

It tried its radio again, once more receiving only incomprehensible static. Its mind was filled with repeated damage warning and possible system failures, and it knew its ruined body wouldn't be able to carry it back to Robotropolis. It surveyed the area once more, its vision blurring for a moment as the lens motors in its eyes began malfunctioning.

The crumpled remains of a fallen SWATbot laid atop the shattered body of the roboticized hyena, obscuring the image of a SWATbot pod partially submerged in the ocean. Its internal radio might have been damaged by its power failure, but the pod's radio should still function.

It hauled itself along, ignoring the warnings in its head about the electrical damage to its arm joints. Its own well being was irrelevant at this point, all that mattered was Robotnik knowing about the destruction of the facility. The robot forced itself onward, pausing intermittently to rest the overheating motors in its elbows and shoulders, and to refocus its worsening eyes. Phantom sounds and static filled its ears, and impossible shifting shapes clouded its vision. It clambered forward at the double as it neared the pod, realizing that it wouldn't be long before its damaged systems gave out completely.

As it reached the edge of the ocean and the pod itself, it grasped a guardrail on the pod and tried to pull itself over to the half-closed entry hatch. It snarled in response to simulated pain wracking its body from the electrical shorts caused by its already useless legs dragging through the water. With the last of its strength it forced the hatch open and threw itself inside.

A damaged SWATbot slumped over the console from the pilot's seat, likely destroyed in the crash. The meerkat pulled itself into the copilot's seat and slumped onto the wall of the pod. Its battery was nearly drained, and powering the pod's radio would take the last of its energy. It weakly reached up and swiveled a monitor to face it, and extended a connector from its fingertip.

It felt a surge of power leave its body as it plugged its finger into a receptacle on the console, and for a moment its consciousness began to dim. As it forced itself to remain awake, it began to search the radio waves for Robotropolis. It paused at an active frequency and opened a communication link, resulting in a dim image lighting up on the monitor.

"Yes, what is it?" Snively's nasally voice spoke over the connection. His face soon filled the screen, a demanding expression plastered on it. He raised an eyebrow as he caught sight of the extensive damage covering the robot. "What happened?"

"We were attacked, my lord," the meerkat replied with difficulty.

"I can see that," Snively snapped. "By who? What's your status?"

"Kyros the echidna was among them, I don't know the others." The robot blinked and tried to focus its vision on the overlander before continuing, "All other units were destroyed. The facility appears to be a total loss."

Snively said something over the radio, but his words were lost among the static and garbled sounds plaguing the robot's hearing. "Forgive me lord... my processor network is damaged, I'm having trouble understanding you."

"I said, shut down and await recovery. I'll send a team out to investigate the damage as soon as possible, but I don't now when Robotnik will get around to it. If the freedom fighters show up again, burn your memory."

The robot nodded weakly and answered, "I understand." After Snively cut the communication link, it slumped to the side and shut its eyes again. It felt the last drops of energy leave its body as its battery discharged completely, and the distorted world around it faded into blackness.

* * *

"You're sure you know where we're going, right?" Kyros asked Seltic as they slipped into the cover of a nearby building's doorway. Vladimir followed behind them, taking up a position to watch for robots from outside.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. This is the way to the nearest hospital that was in Mobotropolis," he replied, peering through a shattered window. He pointed to the personal computer stored at his side and shrugged. "At least that's what was on the map. As always, Robotnik could easily have remodeled since then."

Kyros grunted and led the three outside through another exit. "I can't imagine Robotnik keeping something as healthy as a hospital around if he needed the space. He probably took everything he thought he might need and stored it in the main facility." He eyed the buildings around them as they went on, contemplating their situation. "Anyway, how long would the stuff have been lying around by now? Would what we need keep fresh this long?"

Seltic shrugged again and said, "Probably been there as long as Robotnik's been in power. Real blood wouldn't have lasted a day without refrigeration, but I think artificial blood isn't susceptible to microbes or anything. I don't know for sure, but I think it lasts practically forever."

"Good, because I'd really hate to be here and not really have any chance." Kyros ducked a low pipe and sidestepped a pile of discarded machinery, and added, "If nothing else, maybe we should have stopped by Knothole first."

"Well, Maya said they weren't answering the radio. They might be here right now too, which would be helpful if we knew where they were." Seltic chuckled and went on, "Besides, Knothole would have been too far out of the way, and I doubt they'd appreciate us looting stuff from their supplies while they weren't there."

Kyros aimed his rifle down an alley and ensured it was clear before entering. "Hey, I didn't say all of that now..."

"No, but I have the feeling you were thinking about it. If it means the difference between life and death, then even I'd consider it."

"Yeah, I guess." Kyros grit his teeth and scowled. "It's just one more thing Robotnik's going to answer for. I only wish we'd have taken him out when we had the chance."

Seltic raised an eyebrow and asked, "You mean when we were roboticized?" After receiving a nodding confirmation, he continued, "I guess we could have. If we didn't deroboticize ourselves we could probably have taken him out when he came looking for us... but I don't know about you, but I couldn't think of anything else but being me again the whole time I was a robot." He looked up as they reached an intersection and stared at the myriad of highways now visible. The colossal twisting roads that once served as the main roadway into Mobotropolis now laid dormant, silent and collapsing. A flickering street lamp across the intersection highlighted an on-ramp leading to a raised roadway above them.

"Which way now?" Kyros asked without need.

Seltic pointed to the ramp and said, "If we take the highway we can save some time. Of course, we'd be exposed to any surveillance in the area."

Kyros set off toward the ramp. "We're on a time budget here, so I'll take the chance." The three cautiously traversed the exposed intersection and wound their way past a dust coated destroyed vehicle to reach the ramp.

Vladimir took point with a terse, "Allow me." Kyros and Seltic crouched behind the raised guard rails and watched as the badger picked his way up to the highway. Vladimir silently scanned the roadway and skies around them with his eyes, followed by a careful scrutinizing of the roofs of nearby buildings with his rifle's scope. "All clear," he called to his comrades.

The two hurried up the slope to join him at the top. From their vantage point, they could make out a sea of destroyed and wrecked vehicles littering the roadways around them, still there even after nearly a decade of abandonment. Kyros imagined how the scene must have looked the day Robotnik's coup started, with freshly roboticized people swarming the area and killing or dragging others off to their dooms. "At least we'll have some cover."

"Yeah, and I think I can see the hospital up ahead," Seltic added, pointing off toward a particularly large building set apart from the others around it. "Let's just hope the road doesn't collapse under us or something.

Kyros cut him an evil expression. "Shut up..."

* * *

Stanley stared up at the unintelligible fragments of the sign hanging over the entryway to the building before them and shrugged. "No telling what that used to say," he directed to Maya. He glanced over the remnants of the building and surrounding structures connected to it. "But it's definitely big enough to be the hospital, and it doesn't really look like an office or factory."

"Alright then, let's check it out," she replied. She peered into the darkness drenched interior and sighed. "I don't feel too hopeful though."

Stanley slung his weapon over his shoulder and examined the ruined sliding doors blocking their path. With a determined thrust, he smashed the remaining glass from the door with his boot and stepped inside. "Careful, that might be real, sharp glass."

As the three stepped into the reception area, Kaplain said, "I hope someone brought a lamp or something. I doubt the power still works here."

"Yep," Stanley replied as he fetched a light from his belt and switched it on. He looked back to Maya again and asked, "So, where do we start?"

She rubbed her eyes and said, "I have absolutely no idea. I don't even know where or if they even store that sort of stuff." She looked up and eyed the twilight filtering into the room from cracks and holes in the ceiling. "I doubt they'd store it upstairs anywhere though, and I'd be afraid to risk going up there now."

"This building might fall apart any time now," Stanley added. "Not to mention the elevators certainly don't work, and running up to the tenth floor doesn't sound like a great idea to me."

"Is there a basement?" Kaplain asked. "That's where I would store anything like that if it was in this particular building."

Stanley noted a few signs on the wall and stepped off in the supposed direction of the nearest stairwell. "There's only one way to find out. Any chance of security bots?"

"I don't know, no way of telling," Kaplain answered. "There's always the possibility."

"Then take no chances," Maya added. "Like I said before, I'd hate for another one of us to be in the situation Tantalus is in."

Stanley grabbed his weapon again and forced his way into the stairwell. He began down the stairs and noticed the various warning signs around them. As they reached the floor below them, he paused at the large notice, "Staff Only."

"This looks like we're headed in the right direction," he told the others. A biohazard warning sign caught his eye as he went for the door, and he traced it back to another flight of stairs leading down. "But, that sounds even more promising."

After receiving confirming nods, he started down the stairs, flashing the light in his hand across the pitch black walls with every step. Eventually, the dust-choked cone of light settled on a large metal door adorned with biohazard and radiological hazard signs. As he examined the door he noticed that it was slightly ajar, and with surprisingly little force he managed to slide the door open far enough to squeeze through.

"I don't like the sound of these hazard signs," Kaplain spoke up as he managed to twist his antlers through the gap in the door.

"Me neither, but we don't have much choice," Maya replied. "I just hope we can find something useful here." She flashed her own light across a large container marked with various indicators of discarded needles and let out a weak sigh. "There's no telling how large this storage area is."

"Or even how many floors down it goes," Stanley added. He studied the markings on the walls and pointed down an anonymous hallway leading into the hospital's campus. "Consumables is this way, whatever that means. It sounds the most promising of anything."

The trio headed down the hall at a hurried pace, lights dancing across the walls as they trotted onward. As they rounded a corner, Maya nearly ran over Stanley as he jerked to a sudden halt. Her flashlight tracked over glinting metal as she bumped into him, and for a moment she felt her heart skip a beat.

"It's alright," Stanley said after a second, motioning for the other two to back up a step. He examined the motionless robot sprawled out in the spacious hallway before them, and prodded it with his weapon. "I'm pretty sure it's dead."

Maya approached the fallen machine and squinted through the dim lighting. A thick layer of dust covered every part of its body, and small weapon impacts riddled its armored body. She took a final look at its blank expression and asked, "What happened to it?"

Kaplain stepped up beside her and answered, "Probably been here since the beginning. One of the bots sent in to capture people. One that didn't make it back out." He blinked and frowned, "Let's keep going, this is bringing back some bad memories."

"I heard that," Stanley added as he stepped over the robot and continued down the hall. He waited for the others to take up positions behind him at a door at the far end before forcing it open as he did the one before it. Dim red light spilled into the hallway around them as the door ground open, and the three took a moment to take in the scene. Row after row of enclosed shelves filled the room, bathed in the poor lighting, surrounded by dozens of cabinets and desks.

Kaplain stepped over a pile of indiscernible electronics and computer parts and said, "Wow, looks like there's plenty of something here. I'm kind of surprised the emergency lighting still works though. Robotnik must have never disconnected the building from the power grid."

"Yeah. At least we'll have some light then," Maya said as she shut off the flashlight in her hand. She stepped into the room and went on, "Let's get looking. I think all we need is some sort of artificial blood, but I have no idea what it looks like."

"I wish Seltic was here, he might have a clue," Stanley said as he began searching the nearest shelf.

"With any luck they've already found another place to look. If we can't find anything maybe they can," she replied. She brushed some dust from a label on a vial and added, "Even if we don't find the blood here, maybe we should take some of this other stuff with us. You never know if we'll need it."

"It couldn't hurt I guess," Kaplain said as he plucked a carton from a shelf and read its label. "Just make sure whatever it is didn't need refrigeration. I doubt the refrigerators have worked in years." He tossed a box aside and grumbled, "It looks like there's nothing but medications around here. They probably kept most of the more important stuff in another dedicated building."

Stanley righted an overturned box and peeked inside. "Actually, I wish Sissera was here. She'd probably know more about what all of this stuff is." He looked up and spotted a few racks of fluid-filled plastic bags hanging on the far wall and said, "Wouldn't something like blood probably be in a bag like that?"

Maya and Kaplain glanced over to the racks and hurried over. Stanley jumped over a crate lying haphazardly in the middle of the room and stepped over behind them.

"Saline... just saline," Maya uttered. She looked up and surveyed the room before continuing, "Are there any other rooms nearby that we could check?"

Stanley shrugged and pointed at the nearest doorway. "Only one way to find out, I don't think we're going to find what we're looking for in here." He readied his weapon and cautiously pushed the swinging door open, revealing another innocuous hallway covered in the dim red emergency lighting. He prepared to step into the hallway moments before being interrupted by a faint rhythmic sound emanating from further down.

"Step back, I hear something." He raised his weapon and pressed himself up against the wall as he crouched down. The infrared scope on his rifle illuminated the far side of the hallway, revealing another pair of swinging doors. As the sound continued and increased in volume, the distinct sound of footfalls and scuffing against the tiled floor became evident.

He tensed his finger around the trigger and braced to fire. A second later, he recoiled as his vision was blinded by intense light pouring into the hall and being amplified by the scope. The sound of others taking up firing positions and metal strap clasps clacking against rifle bodies met his ears, and he desperately tried to ready himself to dodge the volley of fire sure to follow.

"Stanley?" he heard someone call from across the hall.

He blinked a few times in an attempt to flush the daze from his vision, and pulled himself up. As his vision cleared, the blurred figure coalesced into Seltic, who was lowering his plasma gun.

"Seltic?" Maya asked from behind. "What are you doing here?"

Seltic looked past Stanley to meet her gaze before checking behind him. "Uh, maybe Kyros should explain."

Behind him, Kyros thundered into the hallway, nearly tripping as he tried to avoid running over Seltic. He opened his mouth to speak but paused as he noticed the three at the opposite side of the hall. "What the..."

"Kyros? Is Vladimir with you? What are you three doing here?"

He looked about briefly and put his weapon down. "I could ask the same question." He looked down to Seltic and went on, "This is where he led us, I guess we just ended up at the same hospital."

Maya blinked blankly. "So... this is the only hospital left in Robotropolis..."

"I guess so. Did you guys find anything?" Seltic asked.

She frowned and shook her head before answering, "No. It doesn't look too good here. I was hoping you'd found something somewhere else."

"This is the only place we've been, and we haven't had a chance to look around," Seltic replied.

Kaplain stepped further into the hallway and said, "Well then, let's not waste any more time. We need to search this place as well as we can if it's our only hope."

Kyros shook his head and placed his face in his palm. "This isn't good then. We don't have much time."

"What do you mean?" Maya asked nervously. "Have you talked to Sissera somehow or something?"

"No," he replied. He pointed at burnt patch of quills on the side of his head and continued, "Worse. We pretty much ran in here to get away from whatever is going on outside. I don't know if Robotnik is after us, but whatever is going on, there's probably a couple hundred bots swarming the area."

Maya slumped against the wall and stared at the floor. "So what do we do now? If we don't find the blood here..."

Kyros stepped forward, leveled his rifle and said, "We can check a few rooms really quickly, but if we stay here much longer, the bots are sure to check this building out, and I really don't want to be holed up in here with hundreds of them pouring in. We'll all be in worse straits than Tantalus if that happens."

* * *

Maya reluctantly hurried after Kyros as he darted down the final hallway and back into the reception area of the former hospital. Overcast light once more filtered into her vision as they entered the room, and the distinct acrid odor of burnt metal and smoke filled her nostrils. A clap of thunder rolled through the room as something detonated in the distance, and for a moment she reconsidered leaving the hospital. They hadn't had time to find anything to help Tantalus yet... they had to stay and keep looking...

"Come on, we've got to get out of here before it gets too crowded," Kyros called back to her as he noticed her lagging behind.

Vladimir moved up beside her and gave her a smirk. "Don't worry, I'll cover you."

She slipped up behind Kyros as he checked the exit for security. As he cautiously moved into the street outside, she followed, backed by the other four members of their team. Vladimir immediately took up position behind some fallen debris and checked for moving targets. "All clear," he called after a cursory examination.

"Which way?" Kyros directed to Seltic.

The tenrec nervously searched the streets around them and pointed off in the direction of the previous explosion. "That way, unfortunately."

"Perfect..." Kyros groaned.

Maya slowly retrieved the laser pistol from her holster and trotted off after Kyros, Vladimir and Stanley as they charged toward the next piece of cover available. Her eyes darted across the desolate sea of smashed and upturned buildings, trying to pick out movement. Overhead, the relative silence of the scene was broken by missiles and SWATbot pods roaring overhead in the direction of their escape.

She nervously stumbled into position behind the others and tried to catch her breath after the sudden shock. "What's going on, can you tell?" she managed to speak between pants.

Kyros raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "No, but man it must have Robotnik worried if he's sending all of this stuff out to stop it."

"At least it doesn't look like he's after us," Seltic added. He glanced to Kaplain and asked, "Any insight you'd like to share?"

The deer shrugged, eyes wide and fixated on the scene of flames and explosions extending off into the horizon. "I've never seen anything this large before. Not even Sonic ever managed to garner this much of a response."

"How far are we from the pods?" Maya asked as she tried to plot their position in her mind, distracted by the constant rumble of distant weapon fire and explosions.

"At least thirty blocks. I don't know how we're going to make it out of here without getting spotted," Kyros replied.

"We're not," Stanley added with a gesture at the sky. Above them a pair of spy-eyes hovered silently, staring down at them.

The small spherical machines were eradicated by a volley of fire from their weapons moments later. Maya watched as their burning husks clambered to the street before weakly muttering, "Dr. Robotnik knows we're here..."

From an undetermined direction, the sound of robotic voices met her ears. "Local security detected intruders this way!" one of the unseen machines shouted.

She grasped the pistol in her hands and tried to calm the shaking in her body. As the others took up positions to defend themselves, she sank into a corner and took several deep breaths. She stared back at the hospital and paused as her thoughts raced, and for a moment she considered bolting back to its relative safety. As her thoughts continued to twist and mingle together incoherently, movement caught her eye.

From behind them, half a dozen robots poured from the hospital into the street. As their leader's eyes met her own, she let out an involuntary gasp and raised her pistol. She knew that the others wouldn't see them in time, and her own feeble weapon couldn't possibly stop them. Her heart sank in despair as she shut her eyes and squeezed the trigger.

As she waited for the inevitable return fire that would surely kill her, an explosion filled her ears and buffeted her body with fragments of debris and wind. She collapsed to her hands and knees as the scene settled, and she clenched her teeth in an attempt to weather the pain wracking her ears. Time blurred as she tried to make sense of the ringing in her hearing and dull pain covering every part of her body.

She felt a firm grip help her to her feet, and as she opened her eyes she stared blankly back into the street where the robots were. Instead of six homicidal machines staring back, she saw only unrecognizable fragments of metal and concrete now littering the intersection, obscured by a thick cloud of swirling dust. "Wh-what?" she managed to grunt.

Kyros immediately turned his attention to the intersection and observed the results of the momentary carnage. "We didn't do that..."

The team all turned their attention to the scene of the explosion and raised their weapons. As the dust began to settle, several pairs of red glowing eyes began to become visible, tracking about the area. Kyros led the team in taking aim at the new targets, but wasn't given an opportunity to fire before shots began to pour into their vicinity.

A dozen blue-white beams of energy stabbed at them through the dust cloud, and Maya felt her blood run cold as she watched two of the beams slice through Kaplain's and Kyros's bodies. She waited for what felt like an eternity for them to fall dead before her eyes, but the two only grunted and doubled over for a moment before staring at each other in confusion.

As the others took aim and prepared to fire, they halted as their targets became obvious. Where Maya expected to see more robots charging toward them in a frenzied rage, she instead stared on in a stupor. Standing in the intersection were what appeared to be three living beings, draped in body-length environmental cloaks, and wearing fully enclosed armored suits and helmets with piercing red eyes.

"Who in the..." Kyros trailed off as he took notice.

The three looked at each other for a second before one said, "The particle rifles didn't do anything, sir."

The center member stepped forward and said, "That's because they aren't robots..."

"Then who are they?" the other member blurted out.

"I don't know, but we don't have much time," the middle member continued as it put down its weapon. It led the other two in a quick trot toward Maya and her companions, calling out to them, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Maya stepped forward to meet them partway and replied, "We... we're a resistance group fighting against Robotnik. We were looking for medical supplies when the battle started."

One of the other members of the trio said, "One of the paramilitary resistance groups stationed in this area?"

Kyros stepped up and replied, "Yeah, you know about us? Who are you?"

The center member raised his face mask, revealing a grim-faced donkey underneath. "Corporal Samuel Fields. We're with the remnants of the Royal Army of Acorn."

"Army? I guess that explains all of the commotion Robotnik is making," Seltic added.

The corporal went on, "We were here looking for something too but were discovered by Robotnik. Apparently we drew a little too much attention, so now we're on the way out. We've got a drop ship incoming to evac us as soon as possible."

Kyros said, "We're on our way out too, it's getting too intense to hang around."

Corporal Fields opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a burst of lasers pelting the area. As the corporal retrieved his mask and whirled to face their assailants, Maya watched one of the beams smash into one of the other soldiers. The laser blast drilled a hole through his body and detonated against a building across the street.

Without flinching, the other two soldiers opened fire. The SWATbot approaching them was caught in a barrage of particle beams, followed by a salvo of laser shots from Kyros and Vladimir. Astoundingly, the machine marched on despite the massive damage to its body. It stammered a garbled message as it trudged forward, raising its arm laser in the corporal's direction. Once again it was hammered by automatic particle rifle fire and laser beams, and its shot went wild as its arm was sheared off.

The SWATbot clambered a further step before collapsing in a mangled heap of smoldering metal. As the corporal and his remaining subordinate scrambled to their fallen ally, Seltic stared at the fallen robot and said, "I've never seen one take that much punishment before..."

His commentary was interrupted by another wave of explosions down the street and the sound of a large hovercraft approaching. Overhead, a craft appeared from behind a wall of skyscrapers, suspended by a pair of massive ducted fan engines. It fired off a salvo of rockets in the direction of the distant fighting before slowing to a halt over a nearby warehouse.

From his position over the fallen soldier, Maya noticed Corporal Fields stand and activate a radio built into his helmet. He shouted over the roar of the engines, "Sergeant, the ship is here and we're loading up. Private Wilson has been hit and needs medical evac right now. We've found some civilians and may be bringing them along. We'll pick you up on the way out."

He turned to face her and asked, "Need a ride?"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_Somewhere outside Robotropolis_

_12:03 AM_

Seltic nervously fiddled with the latch on the restraint surrounding him as he glanced around the drop ship's cabin. Through the dim red lighting scarcely illuminating the room to a visible level, he tried to pick out the faces of his comrades. Across from him he could make out a number of bodies devoid of uniforms, and imagined that he could make a glint on Maya's glasses. Being thrust into the cramped ship with so many strangers was slightly unnerving, even if they were infinitely less likely to want him dead than Robotnik.

A chime rang out from an unseen speaker, and the dim red lighting was replaced by flood lamps powering up above them. He blinked involuntarily as his eyes adjusted to the brighter lighting, and immediately picked out Kyros and Maya's faces. Around him, half a dozen anonymous soldiers raised the crash restraints on their seats and began removing parts of their armor. The corporal from before snatched off his helmet and breastplate, propped his weapon up in a vacant seat and jumped to his feet. Seltic briefly met his eyes before the donkey hurried off toward an exit.

The corporal stopped short with a jolt at the doorway and backed up, throwing up a sloppy salute and uttering, "Sergeant."

Seltic could barely make out another soldier entering the cabin, still in armor. The two conversed briefly before approaching the center of the cabin, the corporal's eyes fixed on the metal deck plating below and his ears drooping. Seltic studied the other soldier briefly and instantly noticed the distinctive sergeant's chevrons painted onto their layered metal armor.

The sergeant removed its helmet, revealing a blue and white furred female horse underneath. She relaxed her stance and spoke aloud, "Everyone, I have bad news. Despite our best efforts, Private Wilson died half a minute ago. He took a serious hit to his lung, and with the supplies we have available Private Jackson wasn't able to do much."

She fingered the clasps on her chest armor and said, "We should be arriving back at base in a little over twelve minutes. I've already radioed ahead to the major and informed him of the situation, and he's making the necessary preparations." She lazily dropped her armor onto the floor and weakly added, "I'm sorry."

As she stepped off, the corporal cut his eyes to Seltic before following her. Across the cabin, Seltic noticed Maya's shocked expression. She stared off blankly for a few moments before sinking back into her seat and glancing down. Kyros said something inaudible and raised his crash restraint before hopping up and following after the sergeant.

From somewhere beside him, Stanley asked, "Wait, we're twelve minutes away from where?"

"Huh?" he replied, looking over to find Stanley leaning past a row of vacant seats to match his gaze.

"We're twelve minutes away from where? What about our ship, or Tantalus?"

"I don't know..." Seltic trailed off in response. "I'm just glad to be out of Robotropolis, but maybe we should have gotten them to drop us off at the ship on the way out."

"Yeah, who knows when we'll be able to get back to Armadi. I just hope Tantalus..."

Seltic nodded. "I know. Maybe Kyros went to find out something."

"I hope so, the sooner we get back, the better."

From across the cabin, Maya weakly looked up. She sighed and said, "It's not like it would matter anyway. We didn't find what we were looking for in Robotropolis."

Seltic bit back the responses that came to mind. He couldn't find anything appropriate to say given the situation, and decided that it was probably best if he stayed true to history and kept quiet. Maya could hardly be blamed for her pessimism given the situation, and Seltic felt a distinct uneasy queasiness beginning to form in his stomach. At this point, he wasn't sure if there was anything that could be done for Tantalus. Even if they were back in Robotropolis right now, there wouldn't be enough time to look anymore.

One of the other soldiers in the cabin looked over in their direction and removed its mask. The gerbil raised an eyebrow and meekly offered, "Sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear. What were you guys looking for in Robotropolis?"

Seltic prepared to respond before being interrupted by Maya saying, "Medical supplies." She propped her cheek in her hand and sniffled for a second before looking up. "I-I suppose you're experiencing worse than us right now... but one of our friends was badly hurt by one of Robotnik's robots and was going to die if we didn't bring back some artificial blood." She wiped her eyes and added, "For all we know it's too late already."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the gerbil replied, raising his crash harness and getting to his feet. "But we might be able to help. We don't have much aboard the ship here, but we've got plenty of stuff like that back home. Let me ask Sergeant Morgan about it."

As he neared the exit, he was blocked by the sergeant returning with Kyros. She looked around and cleared her throat. "Alright everyone, we're still a little ways off, but because of the possibility of Robotnik tracking us, Major Simmin wants us to go to radio silence and low power. So, everyone back to your seats and secure your restraints. We'll be touching down in about ten minutes."

* * *

Snively nervously fiddled with his shirt's collar as he watched his massive uncle descend the boarding ramp of his personal transport. A dozen combat specialist roboticized creatures flanked him, vigilantly observing their surroundings for any possible intruders.

"Good morning, sir," he customarily offered as Robotnik stepped forward.

Robotnik grunted in response and glared down at him. "I'll be leaving again soon Snively, it would appear that the freedom fighters in Sahria have managed to cause some serious damage that I need to personally see to." He looked up and watched a series of SWATbots approach. "I'm only here to check up on things for a moment."

"Oh, very well sir. Things are still going well."

"I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth," Robotnik replied, staring down the first SWATbot to approach the two.

The machine saluted its masters and turned to address Snively. "My lord, we have managed to perform temporary repairs of the damage caused earlier. We have not performed a complete survey of the area, but it appears that nothing of significance was stolen or damaged."

Robotnik sneered at Snively. "Damage, Snively? I thought you said things were going well?"

Snively loosened the neck on his shirt and stammered, "Th-things are still fine, sir. We detected some intruders about an hour ago. We don't know what they were doing, but we drove them off without allowing them to cause much trouble."

"Where did this happen?" Robotnik demanded from the robot.

"Near the abandoned hospital in district V-73. The new facilities were not harmed."

Robotnik took a deep breath and glowered at Snively before saying, "You're fortunate, Snively. Had you allowed something to befall the new research facilities in the one week I left you in charge..."

Snively waited for him to finish and set off toward the command center's entrance before adding, "Yes, sir, I'm quite aware. I made a number of alterations to the local security to make sure that they wouldn't be threatened. Unfortunately, I suppose that opened up holes in security elsewhere."

"I'm willing to overlook this mishap for now, I'm in too big of a hurry," Robotnik replied as he stepped into the building. "I'll just take the report with me. I trust you can follow my orders by radio if the need arises."

"Of course, sir. I haven't compiled the details into a report yet, but the information should be in the main computer."

The cavernous expanse of the primary control room flooded with light in response to the two entering. Robotnik sank into his mechanical throne and activated the main computer, resulting in the massive screen fixed to the wall across from him flickering to life. "Retrieve the information, Snively."

Without a word, Snively raced over to his console and searched through the mounds of archived information for the details of the engagement earlier that day. As he came across the most recent security report, he patched the images through to the main monitor. "Sorry sir, right now all I have available are the images taken by spy-eyes."

Robotnik groaned as the images of obliterated buildings and robots cycled across the screen. The damage might have been to unimportant and abandoned buildings, but the destroyed workers and infrastructure would take longer to deal with. "I thought the damage was minor, Snively. It looks like quite a lot of buildings were destroyed."

Snively turned to face his uncle and cleared his throat. "Well, sir, we were attacked by this group of freedom fighters," he began, switching the screen to show a number of heavily armored soldiers engaging hopelessly outclassed worker robots.

"The army... I see." Robotnik leaned forward in his chair and gave Snively an evil look. "They absolutely cannot be allowed near the research facilities."

"Of course, sir. There is some good news though." Snively switched the image again to show a SWATbot firing upon a group of the soldiers mixed with other unarmored intruders. "One of the soldiers was badly injured in the engagement. I suspect he was killed."

"Well, at least you got the SWATbots right this time." Robotnik studied the image for a moment further and added, "I see that blasted Kyros with them... are they working together? I may have to reschedule my appointment in Sahria if both threaten Robotropolis." He slammed his fist into his chair's armrest and snarled. "Oh how I hate that accursed echidna."

Snively let out a nervous chuckle and scratched a nonexistent itch. "Funny you should mention the echidna, sir." He flinched at Robotnik's demanding expression and relayed another series of images to the main view screen. A handful of images of trashed robots tangled among ruins lying on a beach faded into view. "Unfortunately, he and his friends attacked a storage plant along the coastline yesterday. The facility and all of the security detail were lost in the attack, I'm afraid."

Robotnik stood and approached his nephew. "I thought that none of the research facilities were damaged, Snively..."

"Well, sir, strictly speaking the damage is irrelevant. No research was done there," Snively replied with a nervous smile. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that one of the attackers was killed by a SWATbot." He displayed another image, this time depicting a gray squirrel sprawled out in a pool of blood. "These images were taken by buzzbombers and spy-eyes some time ago... I-I don't know the situation right now."

Robotnik blinked and growled. "Well, at least one of the fetid little monsters won't be troubling me anymore." He towered over Snively and added, "I meant what I said earlier though, Snively. I'm too busy to deal with things right now, but if you allow them to do any more damage while I'm gone..." He motioned as if to wring Snively's neck and said, "I'll have to invent a new word to describe what torture you'll go through..."

* * *

After being jolted about by the ship lurching beneath his feet, Kyros snapped to attention and glanced up at the small grainy infrared monitor hanging across from him. He could feel the ship slowing as if on approach to its landing site, and he hoped to gather some information about their destination. The badly obscured and garbled image gleaned absolutely no familiar landmarks, and the only thing visible was the slowly approaching shape of a large dark pyramidal building. As they drew close, he could make out what appeared to be hangar doors built into the ground sliding open, and landing lights beginning to flicker in a definite pattern.

"We're on approach, everyone make sure your crash harnesses are secured and brace for landing," an anonymous female voice called over the ship's intercom.

Kyros looked over to Maya and gave her harness a quick visual observation to make sure it was locked. He stared at the monitor for a few more moments before asking her, "Any idea where we are right now?"

She blinked in thought and shook her head. "No... I really don't know. None of this looks familiar and I don't know which way we went." She raised an eyebrow and went on, "If I didn't know better though, I'd say we're in overlander territory."

Across from them, one of the soldiers looked up and chuckled. The iguana took a close look at them before saying, "Yeah, actually we are. How did you know?"

Maya looked down and replied, "I used to travel a lot. We went by a lot of overlander cities, but never went inside."

"Well then, looks like you'll get the chance today."

Kyros studied the screen again and asked, "What do you mean? Looks like just one building to me."

The iguana nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Ever hear of an arcology?"

The word was vaguely familiar to Kyros, but certainly wasn't one that he'd use often. He thought for a moment, hoping Seltic would butt in and answer it for him, but after an awkward pause he merely shook his head. "Yeah, but no idea what it is."

"It's a city in a building. Really advanced tech that the overlanders perfected a long time ago. They didn't want to share it or anything, so I don't think they were built for anyone else."

Now that the soldier had mentioned it, Kyros could recall hearing about the structures some distant time in the past, not that it mattered now. He muddled over his thoughts for a moment before coming to a pressing question.

He prepared to speak before being beaten by Maya questioning, "Wait, so what about the overlanders who built it?"

The soldier shrugged and said, "I don't know really. Far as I know they abandoned it during or before the war. Turns out it's a really nice place on the inside, not sure why they'd leave it behind."

"How long have you all been here?" Kyros asked.

"The whole time, I guess that makes about eight years now." The iguana leaned forward in his harness and said, "I'm kind of amazed that Robotnik hasn't found us out here yet. Then again, I guess we do take precautions. For one, the building still looks abandoned."

Kyros looked at the monitor and caught a final glimpse of the building as they flew by. "I see what you mean." The building appeared to be literally falling apart on the outside, with hundreds of sheets of surface material missing or degraded, pipes and cabling exposed, and apparently burnt out windows. He felt the ship sway once more and leaned back in his seat.

"Hang on everyone, setting down now," the voice said again over the loudspeaker in the cabin.

As the soldiers around him leaned back and braced themselves, Kyros followed suit. The deafening sound of the ship's landing thrusters flooded the room and he could feel the ship rocking slightly as their altitude dropped. At last, the ship was shaken by a massive jolt as it set down, and the interior lighting immediately shifted from its deep red to bright white. Once more, Kyros followed the soldiers around him by raising his harness and rising to his feet.

"Well, we're here. I guess the major has a plan on getting you guys home."

Kyros gave a half smile as he thought about Tantalus. Whatever they did, they needed to get back to Armadi as soon as possible, and preferably with something of use from here. He began thinking over the possible trades he might be able to negotiate but was interrupted by the sergeant approaching him.

She sighed and looked between Maya and him before saying, "Alright, we're here. It's probably best if we go ahead and introduce you to the major so you can work something out." She collected the armor she had dropped to the floor earlier and said, "So, Private Webb tells me that you were looking for some medical supplies in Robotropolis."

Kyros followed her down the open boarding ramp, followed by Maya and an assortment of others. "Yeah, that's right."

"Anything specific? We might be able to help."

Kyros thought over other possible supplies Sissera might could use to help Tantalus, or possibly just to keep for future use. He winced involuntarily as he caught sight of two soldiers carrying a covered stretcher down the ramp and decided to ask for as little as possible. "Blood. It was a long shot looking in Robotropolis, but we thought that maybe there was some artificial blood left in the hospitals or something." He watched the two continue off into a nearby doorway and asked, "Do you have anything like that?"

The sergeant smirked and led them toward the deceptively large arcology a short distance off, silhouetted by numerous floodlights piercing through the midnight darkness. "Of course. A surgical ward wouldn't be of much use without it."

Kyros felt a surge of hope well up within him and eagerly pressed, "Would you be willing to trade something for it?"

She shrugged as she continued to lead them up a flight of stairs to higher ground. "It's not my call, actually. The major pretty much runs everything here, it's his decision."

Maya ran up beside him and questioned, "Do you think he would allow it? We're pretty desperate."

The sergeant sighed again and looked down as she fiddled with her hair. "Yeah, I think he'd be willing to work something out with you. After all, we're both in this together against Dr. Robotnik." She removed a card from her pocket and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what do you need it for?"

Maya looked back at the door where the dead soldier had been taken and said, "We... one of our friends was badly injured in an attack on Robotnik. He's back at our... base... under the care of our doctor." She looked down and continued, "We left them over twelve hours ago. As far as we know, it could be too late already."

Sergeant Morgan crested the flight of stairs and led them to one of the dozens of doors lining the closest side of the arcology. She swiped the card through a reader on the side and said, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Well, you're experiencing worse right now I guess," Kyros offered as he followed her inside.

"Yeah, I suppose. I didn't really know Private Wilson personally, so it's not so bad. Not that it's ever easy."

He stumbled along the dark hallway after her for a short distance before arriving at another secured doorway. He suddenly realized that this might well be only one of many squads remaining, and he asked, "So then, how many of you are there here?"

As the doorway slid open, spilling yellowed light into the hallway, his question was answered. Over two dozen individuals of all species and origins stared back at them. The sergeant stepped inside and waved briefly at the creatures milling about in the room. "I don't know exactly, but I think there's about three hundred of us here." She raised her hand and motioned over the group again and said, "Civilians mostly."

Beside him, Maya mouthed a subtle, "Wow." She eagerly pursued after the horse as she strode through the crowd to another door at the far side of the room and asked, "You mean you've been protecting all of these people all of this time?"

"That's right," she replied proudly. "We evacuated most of them during the initial battles against Robotnik. They stayed at our main base near the border of Mercia until we had to abandon it before a missile strike destroyed it."

As the small group began to crowd around the exit waiting for her to open it, Kyros noticed a number of the civilians beginning to wander near them. Among the approaching group, a turtle stepped forward and asked, "Sergeant, are these people going to stay with us?"

She shook her head and offered a smile. "No, I don't think so. We're going to talk to the major, maybe you'd just better talk with Corporal Fields."

Kyros watched the group turn their attention to the donkey tagging along behind them and break off to bother him instead. As Sergeant Morgan entered the doorway and directed them to a large elevator, he followed.

"The major would normally be asleep right now, but he's probably busy preparing things for Private Wilson. But, I don't think this is going to take long," she said as she followed them into the massive freight elevator and pressed a button.

"I wish we didn't have to bother him, then," Maya said. "If there was someone else we could talk to..."

Sergeant Morgan leaned against the wall of the elevator and stared at the level indicator. "We may could have talked to the quartermaster instead, but I need to get permission to get you some transport back home anyway. Major Simmin has to approve of that personally, his orders."

"Trying to keep unnecessary travel to a minimum?" Kyros asked, mulling over the risk of discovery that every leaving ship could present.

As the elevator slowed to a jerky halt with a series of clanks and clangs, she replied, "Yeah. The major is always concerned that Robotnik could be monitoring the area. It looks abandoned, but if he sees a ship leave or enter, then it'd only be a matter of time before something came to investigate." She stepped through the open door and waited for her two companions to follow. "Alright, he's right through here."

Kyros followed her through a short hallway leading into a fairly unimpressive room. Every interior part of the arcology looked to be in very bad disrepair, with cracking walls and dust everywhere. He studied the unusual wooden floor and walls and tried to picture the room as the office of some important overlander before the building was abandoned.

The sergeant stepped over to an intercom on the wall and pressed a button. "Major, I have someone who needs to talk to you."

"Come in," a voice replied through crackling static. After a moment, the clank of an electronic lock on the door sliding open echoed through the room. Sergeant Morgan gently pushed the door open and motioned for the two to follow her.

Inside, Kyros caught sight of dozens of filing cabinets and hundreds of papers scattered about haphazardly across a number of wooden desks. Overbearing white light flooded the room from lamps dangling precariously from the ceiling, and the ever present dust glinted as it floated through the beams. Across from them, an aged raven pushed aside some papers he had been diligently studying and looked up.

The sergeant saluted him and said, "Major, these are the leaders of the group we found in Robotropolis."

Major Simmin nodded and replied, "At ease." He looked Kyros and Maya in the eyes and waved them over to his desk. "Come on over and have a seat, it's not often we meet another resistance group."

"We're honored," Maya replied as the two nervously sat in front of his desk.

He chuckled and said, "Oh, don't worry about the formalities. I'm not much of a major anymore, really." He leaned forward across his desk and offered his hand to Kyros. "I suppose you've met Sergeant Carrie Morgan. I'm Major Gregory Simmin, and you are?"

Kyros reciprocated the handshake and said, "Kyros Flyno, and this is Maya Morceaux."

The raven shook her hand as well and returned to his seat. "So, what can I do for you? Are you planning on staying for a little while before you leave?"

Kyros looked over to Maya and decided to let her continue the conversation. After all, she was better at speaking than he was. She half smiled and replied, "We appreciate the gesture, but we really don't have time to stay. We need to get back as soon as possible."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that but if you need to go I can arrange for a drop ship to take you home."

"Thank you, we really appreciate it," Maya replied. She looked down and opened her mouth as if to speak, but hesitated.

The major looked over to her and leaned back slightly. "Was there something else you wanted to ask?"

Behind them, Sergeant Morgan stepped forward and answered for her, "They wanted some of our medical supplies. One of their friends was injured and needs it."

He rocked back in his chair and nodded. "Oh, I see. Like what?"

"Blood, we don't have any, and he'll die soon without it," Kyros replied.

Major Simmin sighed and looked to the side, revealing graying feathers on the back of his head. "We do have a lot of spare medical supplies, left here by the overlanders. Naturally I'd like to help anyone who fights against Robotnik, but we need all of the medicine and such we can keep as well. We keep watch over nearly a hundred soldiers and two hundred civilians."

Kyros felt the hope from before beginning to fade, and looked over to Maya to see her expression changing to mild disbelief. "Y-you won't help us then?" he asked.

"Now I didn't say that," the major replied with a smirk. "It's just that I'd like some reassurance that we can be long term allies against Robotnik. Would you be willing to help us out for it in exchange?"

Both Kyros and Maya eagerly nodded in response. Kyros beat Maya to asking, "What do you want?"

The raven pointed vaguely behind him and went on, "Did you notice the nasty storm a few days ago?" After receiving confirming nods, he continued, "Our water pumping facility was hit by a tornado spawned from the storm, and it's no longer delivering water to the arcology. We've got emergency stop-gap measures in place to keep everyone with reasonable amounts of water, but morale is starting to suffer, and I'm not sure how long we'll be able to keep it up.

"That's what the sergeant here and her squad were doing in Robotropolis. We've concluded that we need a new water pump and controller computer, but didn't have the necessary replacement parts here. Unfortunately, she didn't locate anything there either."

Kyros raised an eyebrow and thought about Seltic and Kaplain's possible experience with similar electronics and mechanics. "So, if we help you fix the pump you'll let us have the blood we need?"

He nodded and said, "That's right. We're getting pretty desperate, and I'd consider it a more than fair trade, if you're willing to help out."

"Of course, we'll do what we can," Maya answered. "Our tech specialist might be able to do something."

The major smiled broadly and said, "Excellent. Since I imagine your friend can't wait for that, we'll let you take what you need up front. We'll get back with you soon about how you can help us."

"Thank you very much, sir," Maya eagerly replied, ecstatic joy evident on her face.

"There is one more thing though," he went on. "We're going to have a funeral service for Private Wilson shortly. If you could attend, we'd all appreciate it. Your flight out will be at 0200 hours."

* * *

Sissera blinked wearily at the text book in her hands and tried to continue reading. She peeked up at the handful of medical computers connected to Tantalus and watched the rhythmic peaks of his pulse flicker by. Despite his injuries, his vital signs were still remarkably strong, and the once unstoppable bleeding from the coin sized hole in his abdomen had finally begun to slow. He still had no chance on his own, but at least with the machines hooked up to him, he might survive long enough for the others to return with the things she needed.

Her heart sank again as she thought over what would happen when they returned. Even if they did have the blood she needed to help him, it would still be up to her to repair the wound. The eight years that had passed since her time in medical school had certainly dimmed her already incomplete knowledge, and something as delicate as surgery would allow for no mistakes. The thoughts returned her attention to the book in her hand, and she once again studied the diagrams and notes left there for surgical procedures in the abdomen.

She had already used the few computerized tools she had to stem blood flow to the destroyed kidney, but removing it and closing the wound would be completely different. She closed the book and lethargically placed it onto the counter next to her and pulled herself to her feet. An unusual chime from the monitoring equipment caught her attention, and she jogged over to the computer terminal in charge of it.

His body temperature was now slightly above normal, and enough to warrant careful attention. She turned to face him and pondered the thought. As he laid on the makeshift hospital bed, his face twitched periodically and he occasionally made a small gesture. She imagined that he would normally have awakened hours ago, and she was immensely thankful that there was a fairly substantial amount of sedatives still in storage. At least this way he wouldn't feel the pain for now.

Her eyes caught the glint of polished metal in a tray beside the bed, and her mind returned to the imminent surgery. Although she would never tell the others that it had crossed her mind, perhaps it would be better if he did die now. If he died during the surgery or after it due to a mistake on her part, she would never be able to live with herself, and in all likelihood, that was what was probably going to happen. She grasped a scalpel from the tray and slowly stepped over to the bedside. The diagrams in the book filled her thoughts as she looked down at the blood-matted fur covering his body, and she tried to picture herself performing the operation. She closed her eyes and set the scalpel back into its tray, and stepped back.

There was no way she would be able to do it. No one performed such an operation as their first invasive surgical procedure, and she had virtually no experience doing anything other than treating cuts and burns. The only other member to take such a serious injury was Kyros years before, and even then both were lucky that his rib absorbed most of the underpowered SWATbot laser. A slight deflection either way and she could have been staring him down like this years ago. She tried to imagine how life would have been different those next five years if he hadn't been there, and how life might be different if Tantalus wasn't with them a year from now.

The computer chimed again, signaling that his body temperature was still slightly too high. She sighed and hoped against reason that it wasn't already too late to help him. She vaguely recalled some of the lessons she had learned, and tried to reassure herself that things would be alright. As she leaned back against the desk behind her, movement outside her window caught her eye. Moments later, her door slowly opened to reveal a young raccoon.

"What is it?" she asked as he stepped inside. Maya had told him not to enter the room unless something important came up.

Marcus reflected a bright smile and offered her a small radio. "Miss Maya wants to talk with you."

She accepted the handset and said, "Okay, run along, I'll take care of this." As Marcus complied and left, she raised the speaker to her ear. "Yeah?"

"Sissera?" a distinct female voice replied, scarcely audible over radio interference and environmental noise she couldn't identify.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Good, how is Tantalus?" Maya asked.

She checked the monitors out of the corner of her eye and quickly responded, "Still stable. He's doing marginally better, but I know it won't last."

"Oh, thank heavens," Maya replied again, relief abundantly evident in her voice. "We've got what you asked for and we're almost back home now. With any luck we should be arriving within a minute."

Sissera felt an unusual feeling of relief and dread wash over her. "G-good. I'll be waiting for you when you get here. At least now he has a chance."

"Right. I've got to cut off the radio now, be ready for us when we get there."

"Okay." She waited for the typical click and cessation of static to signal that the link was closed then set the radio down. With one last look at the computer screens, she left the room and stepped out into the brisk premorning air. She closed her jacket and tried to ignore the low temperatures as she stared into the skies. After so many years of watching the old hovercraft enter and leave, the stolen SWATbot pods had taken some getting used to.

"Are they on the way back?" Marcus asked from beside her, startling her slightly.

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, she said that they would be here within a minute. I don't see anything yet though."

As soon as she shut her mouth, a low unusual hum began to roll through the valley. She looked about again, trying to spot something through the coronas of the street lamps still blaring in the darkness. From above the low waterfall at the far end of the valley, an obviously artificial craft she didn't recognize was beginning to approach. Her first instinct was to run for cover and find a weapon, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that it was no ship Robotnik had ever used.

She swallowed her fear and began approaching the only landing pad in the town. As the ship began to draw near, she confirmed that it bore no resemblance to Robotnik's ships, and the fact that it hadn't already opened fire on her or the buildings put her at some ease. She stopped a dozen meters or so away from the pad and covered her ears as the massive turbines of the ship began to grow uncomfortably loud. The ship slowed to a stop in midair above the pad and rocked for a few seconds before inching toward the ground, finally settling on extended landing struts with a deafening clang.

Even before the engines could completely die down the boarding ramp on the side of the ship lowered to the ground, and she could make out a number of people leaving the ship. She stared in confusion at the scene for a moment before Maya triumphantly trotted over to her and gave her a strong hug.

"We finally made it back, and we've got the blood," she said, loosening her grip. She pointed back at a pair of unfamiliar armor-clad individuals carrying a crate down the ramp.

Sissera stammered and looked back at the ship. "Wh-what's all of this? Where are the others?"

Kyros stepped up and smirked. "They're back at Robotropolis retrieving our pods. Trust me, it's a long story that'll have to wait."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_The Diary of Maya Morceaux_

_April 13, 3236_

I'm so tired right now I don't know what to do. I've been up for nearly two days straight now, and so many things have happened that I just don't know where to begin.

Well, for starters, Tantalus was almost killed in a fight when we got back to the beach. We managed to get him back here before he passed away, but in the confusion we still didn't have a chance to really figure out what was going on there. Kyros and the others destroyed whatever it was that Robotnik was building, but didn't have time to analyze it since we all were on the way to Robotropolis to try and find something to help Tantalus.

I had nearly given up hope at that point, since we didn't find the blood that we needed and time was beginning to run out for Tantalus. Just when all seemed lost, and it even looked like we might not make it back alive, some strangers turned up in Robotropolis that helped us escape. Although I still find it a little hard to believe, they claimed that they were the remnants of the army, and that they've been hiding out just like we have all this time.

Turns out they were telling the truth. They took us back to some old overlander arcology a good distance away from here and introduced us to their leader: Major Simmin. Although we were in a hurry and were pretty much begging for help, he agreed to give us the blood that we needed for Tantalus. Under one condition though. They want our help later with something to do with their water supply.

At this point I can't pay that any attention though. Sissera immediately put the blood to use, and she tells me that Tantalus is going to be alright for now. I'm still very worried about him though, since she put off the surgery until tomorrow. She said that while he is stable, he seems to be showing signs of an infection and she's hesitant to perform the operation until it clears up. Thankfully we still have plenty of antibiotics, so with a little luck maybe it's only a minor set back.

I'm also worried about Sissera. The poor dear has been up just as long as we have, and while she hasn't been getting shot at she has had to sit there and watch him come close to death too many times to count. She also seems very worried about her ability to perform the surgery, but if she doesn't do it no one else can. The army claims that they have a hospital in the arcology, so I'm tempted to ask them if they can do it instead, but we've already taken the blood from them and I have faith in Sissera.

I'm going to go check up on her in a minute, everyone else was too sleepy to keep watch for her so she got the computers to keep track of him while she caught a wink of sleep. I know she needs to get some rest like the rest of us, but I hope she doesn't wait until it's too late.

* * *

As Maya approached the door to the infirmary, she could already tell that something was wrong. Instead of the silence that Sissera had left it in, alarming beeps and the sound of someone shuffling around were barely audible through the thin prefab walls. She took a deep breath and edged the door open, revealing a much busier scene than she had hoped for.

Sissera fumbled with the computers at the end of the room and yanked her coat off with a frustrated grunt. She ran her fingers through her quills and looked up with a thoroughly weary expression. "Huh?"

Maya stepped inside and shut the door. She placed her hand over her heart and asked, "Dear, is everything alright?"

Sissera looked down and shook her head before weakly replying, "No, something is wrong." She made an obscure gesture toward the computer to her side and continued, "The computer woke me. His temperature has gone up now to around thirty seven and a half degrees, and it believed that his infection had gotten worse."

"Has it?"

"I'll say," Sissera replied, eyes wide open and concern plastered on her face. "I don't know exactly why, but whatever sort of infection he has is antibiotic resistant, and has started to cause more damage."

Maya blinked in disbelief and walked over to the comatose squirrel lying on the bed. "What do you mean, what kind of damage?"

Sissera plopped down into a vacant seat and looked away. "His other kidney is failing."

"No... please don't say that..."

She rested her face in her hands and went on, "That's what the computer tells me. I can't say for sure why since the organ itself appears fine. It just looks like it can't filter out his blood well enough and it's beginning to fail. I can't tell yet if the infection has anything to do with it, but I can almost guarantee it."

Maya stared at Tantalus and watched as his face periodically twitched as if in pain. She backed away and placed her hand over her mouth to stifle a whimper. "There's nothing you can do then?" she managed at last.

Sissera sighed and looked away again. "I don't know if I could pull it off, but a kidney transplant would probably work. But, just like with the blood I don't know which of us if any would work, and if his body rejected it he would die almost immediately." She wiped a tear away and sniffled, "I don't know what to do..."

Maya walked over to her and crouched. She placed her arms around her and offered a weak embrace before saying, "Don't worry about it." She bit back a cry of her own and said, "You've done the best you can, it was just his time. How long do you think he has?"

Sissera shook her head and remained silent for a few seconds. "A day, two at most." She scowled and glared at the offending computer screen. "I just wish there was something... anything I could do. Even if I tried using someone else's kidney as far as I know I'd just end up killing them too."

Maya tried to think of a comforting comment but came up dry. Sissera was completely right in that it was probably not worth the risk to try and go ahead with a transplant, but Maya didn't know if she would be able to stand Tantalus dieing. Everyone of them was like a child she never had. Possible solutions entered her mind and immediately left as she shot them down. In a world like this, there was no solution left. The only thing she could think of that could save his life at this point would be to roboticize him, and even if Robotnik agreed to do it she could never do that to him. Her mind drifted to the events from the previous day and the soldiers that were gracious enough to lend them the blood.

"Wait..." she found herself uttering involuntarily. "Maybe the soldiers that gave us the blood have something that can help."

Sissera looked up and stared at her intently. "D-do you think so?"

"Well they said that they had a surgical ward. Would there be something there that you could use?"

"Anything would be better than what I've thrown together here," Sissera replied. "But... I would still need a replacement kidney unless they have an organ cloner there, and I don't think that anyone had anything like that except for... the overlanders..." Her expression shifted to hope as she pondered. "An overlander arcology... yeah, they might have what we need!"

Maya let out a half cheer and said, "Great! I'll contact Major Simmin and find out if they are willing to help us out some more."

* * *

Seltic blinked wearily and leaned onto the table he sat at. Half of the others were now sitting around the dinner table, drifting into the room like zombies after being awakened by Maya less than an hour before. He propped his chin up in his hand and yawned loudly as he awaited something interesting to happen. Maya hadn't explained the situation very thoroughly, and even if she had he probably wouldn't have understood in his sleepy daze. The only things he caught from her quiet attempt to wake him were that Tantalus wasn't doing well, and that the army had already called in their favor.

He slumped forward lazily and tried to think over the number of things that could be wrong with the arcology's water supply system. Given that he had only manged to snag a little over six hours of sleep in the past two days, his groggy stupor wasn't helping him think. Of the myriad possibilities that his brain actually managed to put together, he couldn't help but get a distinct feeling that he wouldn't be much too much use. If there was a relatively simple mechanical problem or something electrical, he might be able to help, but if there was a serious breach in a pipe or a pump failure he didn't know what he could do.

As he thought, Kaplain staggered into the room and plopped down at the table. Kaplain had been a mechanic before Robotnik ruined the world, and he had certainly proved his skill during his stay with them. If he couldn't do much himself, maybe Kaplain might know more about how to fix it. Kaplain half-smiled at him and asked, "So, what exactly are we doing?"

"I don't know exactly... but I think Maya was in contact with the army earlier today. Seems they're already expecting our help."

The deer nodded lightly and leaned back into his seat. "Do you think they could have let us sleep a little more first?"

Stanley looked up from his spot further down the table and replied, "It wasn't them wanting us this early. Seems like Maya called them up looking for more stuff to help Tantalus, and they said if she wanted to come get it that it would be best if we went ahead and helped them too."

Kaplain stretched and yawned widely before replying, "Oh, okay. How is Tantalus?"

"Not good from what I hear," Seltic said. "I didn't talk with Sissera yet, but Maya said he wasn't doing well."

"Like... how bad?"

He shrugged. "Like I said, I don't know. The blood was only part one of getting him better I guess, maybe something else went wrong."

The small group sat silently for a moment before Kyros spoke up, "I hope they aren't expecting much from us. Tantalus isn't going to be able to be put on the back burner much longer. Not to mention we're not going to be much help like this..."

As he finished the door to the room creaked open, revealing a tired and grimy Sissera. She removed a lightly bloodied coat and placed it on the rack at the door before finding an empty seat at the table. She quietly stared down at the table as she sat, avoiding eye contact with the others.

"How is he?" Kyros broke the silence, similarly staring away blankly and unaware of her desire for privacy.

She remained silent for several seconds before letting out a lengthy exhausted sigh. "Bad. Just bad..." After an awkward period of quiet, she continued, "The machines can keep him alive for another day or two... but his body can't fight off the infection he's acquired from somewhere."

Seltic looked up and asked, "What kind of infection? Nothing serious that could spread, right?"

She shrugged. "I-I don't know. It might be nothing at all, maybe even a cold out of control, considering that antibiotics aren't doing any good. What's so bad is that whatever it is, it's causing his good kidney to fail. Even with all of the blood in the world, without a working kidney..."

"Man..." Kaplain whispered to himself. "We can't donate one?"

"It would be possible... but I'm afraid to even try it. Just like with the blood, if his body rejects it he would almost certainly die. But then it just puts one of you at risk if I did it wrong, and I couldn't try it knowing that."

Kyros looked over and asked, "So what can the army do about it?"

"It was along shot, but Maya asked if they had any sort of advanced overlander technology that might be able to help." Sissera rubbed her weak eyes and went on, "They didn't have what I was hoping for... but it turns out that there were a number of cybernetic organs in storage, and they did have a kidney. If we can get it in time, it would be perfect since it would work even better than his natural one did and the infection wouldn't really affect it."

Kyros raised an eyebrow. "So... if the army is taking us along on a scavenger hunt while you get what you need, where will he be? I mean, who knows how long that could take? Do they really expect us to search around with them while he's laying here dieing?"

She shook her head and answered, "I don't know. Maya talked with them. There's no real risk of him dieing today, so if we get it by tonight I think he'll be alright. But I'm with you... I hate leaving him here while we're away, but I'm also very worried about moving him."

"You may as well stay here again then," Seltic said, returning his attention to the conversation from the more interesting sounds in the kitchen. "I doubt one more person is going to speed things up much, and you being here might keep Tantalus around a little longer if something happens."

Sissera nodded slightly and turned to face the kitchen door as it creaked open. "We'll see what Maya says."

As if on cue, Maya stepped quietly into the room, took attendance mentally and said, "Okay... Vladimir and Marcus aren't here yet, but we can go ahead and get started eating. We're sort of in a hurry." She glanced at Sissera's solemn expression and added, "I guess everyone knows about Tantalus then."

She wrung her hands nervously and brushed a hair out of her face and after receiving a few nods, she said, "I'm sorry, but we only had the supplies to make some more sandwiches. So, everyone eat quickly so we can get on the move." She made a concerned expression and asked, "Everyone does know where we're going and what we're doing, right?"

Kyros grunted and looked up. "The army wants us to go ahead and fix their water problem right?"

"Yes, but only because I called in for more help for Tantalus. They have a replacement kidney for him, and since we needed to go get it they wanted us to assist in a search this afternoon." She frowned and said, "I know everyone is very tired, but this is Tantalus' last chance, so I hope you all understand."

"So then, who's staying here with him? Shouldn't Sissera stay just in case she needs him?" Kyros asked.

"Yes, I suppose so. The army wanted as many hands available as possible, but I don't think it will matter." She looked over to Sissera and tried to make eye contact. "I guess you should stay here then."

* * *

Kyros groaned and looked down at his watch. The army had arranged to meet with them at a staging point in the mountains about a kilometer outside of Robotropolis nearly twenty minutes ago, and they were just now nearing the spot. He mulled over the possibility of the soldiers mistaking their looted SWATbot pod as the real deal and shooting them down, and considered radioing ahead to signal their approach. Breaking radio silence might only alert Robotnik to their presence though, and ending the mission before it got started would certainly sour their relation with the soldiers and deprive them of the kidney they needed.

"Any sight of them yet?" Maya asked anxiously from the back seat of the pod.

Kyros scanned the craggy rocks below for a few seconds, noticing nothing. "Not yet."

She leaned forward into the front of the cabin and peered through the windshield herself. "Oh I hope they didn't leave without us."

A glint of flickering light caught Kyros' attention as he stared at the mountainous terrain. As he studied the area for a moment, the movement of a handful of bodies became apparent, and he could make out something waving a glowing rod at them. "There they are."

He tapped Kaplain on the shoulder and directed him to their position, wondering for a moment if he should have just piloted the ship himself. Kaplain nodded and steered the ship to change course, and Kyros braced himself as the ship began to list to the side.

As they drew near, the drab gray armor of the soldiers became obvious, and Kyros noted a number of them taking up positions to engage them if they turned up to be the wrong SWATbot pod. He tried to pick out anyone he recognized from before, but at this range it was still impossible to tell who was who. He pointed to a vacant spot behind the troops and said to Kaplain, "Set it down back there I suppose. There should be enough room for Stanley to set down back there too."

"Alright." Kaplain slowed the ship and began an approach to the site. He chuckled and said, "I hope they don't think we're with Robotnik and shoot us out of the sky."

"They'd have probably done that by now if they were going to," Seltic replied from the back. "If their fight yesterday was typical they probably have plenty of long ranged weapons, they could have blown us away minutes ago."

Kyros braced again as the ship began to descend, awaiting the sudden unpleasant jar at the end. He rubbed his eyes and sighed. "That's reassuring at least, maybe if we stick with them they can mop the floor with Robotnik and we can call it a day."

Maya eagerly pressed the control for the side door and said, "It's not that simple. Major Simmin wants us to see this through since he's giving us the kidney too. If we don't find what they need today, he might call on us again later."

"Great," Kyros replied, rocking to his feet. "Then let's not mess this up. I don't want this to turn into a two month game of hide and seek."

Maya led them down the boarding ramp and into the searing arid heat of the mountain. Kyros balked at the unforgiving weather outside and cursed Robotnik in his mind for the thousandth time for destroying the ecosystem. All things considered, he'd much prefer that the unpredictable weather had picked to be raining or snowing, but at least this way the visibility wouldn't be impaired.

Among the soldiers assembled a short distance away, two obviously equine members began to approach them, weapons readied and stance tense. Kyros picked out the taller more feminine soldier and questioned, "Sergeant?"

The corporal beside her snorted and replied, "You're late."

Sergeant Morgan looked in his direction, but through her armored helmet Kyros couldn't make out her expression. "That's enough, Sam." She returned her attention to Kyros and his associates and said, "I'm glad that you're finally here. Every minute we're out here increases the chances that Robotnik will discover us."

Maya stepped up beside Kyros and offered an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, we had some complications. So, what's the plan?"

"Alright, here's what we've drawn up so far," the horse replied. She lowered her rifle and pointed back at the soldiers keeping the area secure, continuing, "Since you can't be tied into our network, we'll have to keep communication to a minimum, and because we can't share intel, we figure that it's best that we split into two groups. That way we won't slow each other down."

She handed a paper to Maya containing a number of diagrams and went on, "I'll take my squad and check the junk yards further up for the replacement parts we need. The areas that are marked on this map indicate where we think that the water delivery and sewage systems might contain similar parts, so it's probably a good place to start looking."

Behind them, Seltic asked, "Wait, so what exactly are we looking for? A pump? Pipes?"

"It's in the data there," the sergeant answered. "Well, the parts we lost anyway. We don't know if we'll be able to find others like them, so if you can find something similar it may have to do. I take it that you know enough about this sort of thing to make that kind of judgment?"

Kyros wiped the sweat from his forehead and cringed at the thought of remaining in the furnace-like heat for any longer. "We'll figure something out," he answered for Seltic, desperate to get things going as soon as possible.

The two soldiers exchanged looks before the sergeant offered a nod. "Alright then, stick close to us as we breach security, we'll cover you. After that, you're on your own. Of course, try not to alert the robots if we can get inside unseen."

"Sounds good to me," he replied. The soldiers certainly were better equipped than his own ragtag group, but he felt safer working without them. If for no other reason, they seemed to attract much more attention when Robotnik did discover them, and he wasn't in any hurry to be in a war zone again any time soon. As the soldiers formed up around their leader, Kyros waved his own party over to himself.

The sergeant pointed at Corporal Fields and said, "Take your fire team and cover us as we approach, let me know immediately if you see anything that looks like a SWATbot." She looked over to Kyros and added, "You too."

He nodded and puzzled over her command for a moment. After having a friend be the victim of one of the machines so recently he could understand her caution, but all things considered the SWATbots were a very low level threat compared to the other things in Robotropolis. "Alright... any particular reason you're watching for SWATbots instead of something like buzzbombers?"

She continued to stare at him with the blank expression of her mask. "We don't want to take the risk of one of the newer models showing up unexpectedly again."

Kyros blinked in confusion. "New models?"

The sergeant stood erect and motioned for her comrades to stand down for a moment. She turned her head slightly and asked, "You mean... you didn't know?" Kyros replied with a continued look of confusion and shook his head, prompting her to finish, "Oh, we didn't even think to tell you guys."

Kyros raised an eyebrow and thought over what she said. Things began to fall into place now. In all of their years of fighting against Robotnik, SWATbots had always proven to be horribly underpowered for the jobs they were given. Their weapons couldn't penetrate even light armor, and a single shot from even a handgun was generally enough to down one. But now that he thought about it, the SWATbots they encountered at the beach, especially the one that nearly killed Tantalus, were much more durable and apparently wielded better weapons. Not to mention the one that killed the other soldier earlier.

"Anyway," she continued, "About two months ago, we started running into SWATbots that were able to survive an extreme amount of damage and had a variety of weapons powerful enough to penetrate even light vehicle armor. At first we thought it was just a series of flukes until we started spying on Robotnik. Turns out, he's been researching the new designs for over a year now and intends to replace all of Robotropolis' security with them."

The thought of the equivalent of combat specialist roboticized Mobians guarding everything in Robotropolis immediately passed through his mind. He fought back an overpowering feeling of dread and said, "I see. Do you have some plan if we run into a squad of them?"

"Not really," She replied. "Particle beam weapons seem to still affect them more or less, it just takes more shots. The major is drawing up plans to destroy the new factories, but we're in no position to even begin yet."

Kyros thought over the SWATbots encountered at the beach and tried to reassure himself that they were still very much destructible at least. With a little luck perhaps they wouldn't run into any today anyway. "Alright, I'll let you know if we see one. Let's go."

Sergeant Morgan nodded in agreement and said, "Okay, form up. Blackwell, you're on point." She followed after another of the anonymous soldiers as it ran up to the front of the pack, and raised her weapon in readiness. "Everyone stay low and be on the lookout for anything."

* * *

Stanley silently moved up against the natural cover that the mountain stone provided and waited for the others to fall into line behind him. He continued to cautiously eye the movements of the massive city a couple hundred meters ahead and tensed as a shadow shifted ahead of them. The Royal Army soldiers were some distance ahead, each team taking up positions in cover and watching as the other moved ahead.

"All clear so far?" Kyros whispered from behind him.

"Yeah, security doesn't appear too interested in this area. I just hope that they've got a plan on getting in though, because there's no way to get inside from this way without being seen," he replied, trying to get a feel for their surroundings. It had been so long since they had been on this side of Robotropolis that he had no plan for getting inside like they normally would, and had no idea what to expect from security once they did get closer. Up ahead, one of the fire team leaders motioned for them to approach.

Stanley took one more quick look around for any sort of airborne surveillance before darting from cover down the mountain side. Behind him, the others noisily made their own way down to the stone formation that the soldiers hid behind.

Corporal Fields waved them over and quietly said, "We've arranged for a distraction in just a moment. A missile is inbound and aimed at a transformer grid inside Robotropolis. When it hits, power will drop for a few minutes. With any luck the robots will run over to investigate, if not let us take them down with the particle rifles."

Stanley nodded and crouched lower behind the outcropping. It would take a great deal of luck and precision if the soldiers intended to take the robots down without letting them alert Robotnik, but at least with the particle rifles they had a chance. Regular weapons would take far too long to down them, save perhaps an EMP explosive. He glanced behind himself at Kyros and Vladimir and wondered for a moment if one of them had decided to bring such a weapon along.

He sat in silence for what felt like half an hour before the barely audible low rumble of a rocket overhead began to become obvious. He chanced a glance up at the clear sky, shielding his eyes from the overbearing sun as he searched for the small missile.

"Alright, incoming," the corporal muttered to the group as he stood slightly to peer over their stony cover. "Impact in less than a minute." He looked over to Stanley and continued, "Once it hits, wait for us to move out. We'll signal you over when it's clear."

Kyros flicked the safety on his weapon and said, "Ok, let's make this quick. I think my skin is boiling here."

As the corporal predicted, the missile quickly came into view and disappeared among the sea of buildings that formed Robotropolis. The explosion was unimpressive, appearing to fail to even demolish a single structure. The initial detonation was followed shortly be a number of smaller explosions, obscured by blocks of assorted buildings. An instant later, several large electrical arcs sprayed sparks and bolts of lightning along a large power line, and power dropped. The laser turrets previously scanning the horizon suddenly ground to a halt, and the few lights feebly glowing in the bright daylight dimmed.

As the handful of patrolling robots stopped in their tracks and stared into the city, Corporal Fields tensed and raised his weapon, followed by the other four soldiers accompanying him. Seconds passed, and the robots continued to stare without taking action.

"What are they doing?" one of the soldiers questioned, taking aim at the nearest robot.

"They're not taking the bait," Corporal Fields replied. He also took aim and said, "They must have orders to not leave their patrol no matter what. Get ready to take them down on the Sergeant's order."

Stanley watched intently as they continued to keep aim on their targets, awaiting the command to fire. His eye caught the distinctive glint of moving metal under bright light. One of the half dozen robots had returned to its patrol, and the exposed troops had been spotted. As usual, it threw its arm up in their direction and shouted something to its companions.

"Fire!" the corporal shouted without wasting a moment.

His order came an instant too late, and the first shot fired came from the robots. It exploded against the corporal's shoulder armor, shattering the metal and ceramic plate into hundreds of fragments. Scores of particle beams answered the single laser, instantly felling the handful of surprised and uncoordinated defenders.

Stanley ignored the twitching and sparking robots in favor of examining the injured corporal. The other soldiers were crowded around him, trying to help him to his feet. He snorted and growled a curse as he staggered up, clutching at his shoulder. "Come on, let's go! No time to wait for more to show up!"

The corporal grabbed his weapon and cautiously removed the remains of his ablative shoulder guard before bolting around the outcropping, followed by all other troops. As they fell into line behind the other squad a few meters ahead, Stanley looked back to Kyros and asked, "Does that mean us too?"

"It does now, let's go," the echidna replied without a thought.

"Alright." Stanley waited for Kyros to make the first move before charging after him. The sound of dozens upon dozens of boots thundering down the shallow incline echoed against the shear cliffs around them, and Stanley knew it would certainly be making enough noise to warn any robots still in the area. He hopped over the smoldering and twisted remains of one of the destroyed security robots and hoped against reason that their path would be clear inside Robotropolis.

The moment the thought left his mind, a gut wrenching sound met his ears. "Security breach detected. Combat protocol engaged." Just meters away were a pair of SWATbots, hastily charging toward the mob. "Echidna alert, priority two," one of the two machines announced as it caught sight of Kyros, followed by it raising its weapon in their general direction.

A pulsing blue beam of energy stabbed out at them from its arm, clearly marking it as one of the new generation. In mere moments the soldiers took notice of the approaching robots and scattered, taking aim and releasing a flurry of shots before even coming to a stop. Both SWATbots staggered and slowed to a crawl as they were barraged by repeated particle blasts.

Despite the incredible volume of fire pouring into them, they continued forward and returned the attack. A soldier fell with a shriek as a beam exploded against his body, and another dropped to his knees as a shot knocked his weapon away and obliterated it. The volleys of particle shots were followed by Kyros leading his team in the attack, and the SWATbots finally began to show signs of damage as dozens more lasers and plasma blasts slammed against them.

The two were finally destroyed as Vladimir and another soldier hit them with shots from their grenade launchers. The rents and holes in their armor were ripped open and annihilated as the incredible heat and shrapnel hammered them, and they fell in twisted heaps. Despite the staggering damage dealt to them, they continued to weakly twitch and babble on in confused and distorted grunts.

"I'm fine..." the fallen soldier called weakly as the scene settled. The others helped him to his feet and removed the smashed and ruined chest guard hanging limply by its straps. "At least we know the composite armor helps..."

Sergeant Morgan quickly surveyed their surroundings and waited for the other soldier to recover a pistol from a hip holster before saying, "Okay everyone, Robotnik is going to have legions of robots check this place out in minutes, let's move now before it's too late."

* * *

Seltic folded the sheet of paper in his hand as best he could, trying to avoid tearing it as it grew damp from the muggy surroundings. Noxious and pestilent-looking fumes poured from the sewage and sludge processing plants a short way off, condensing into a thin and nearly unbearable fog at ground level. He dodged a hole in the pavement carved by acidic runoff and handed the sheet to Kaplain, saying, "Any of this look familiar to you? This isn't really my specialty."

Kaplain lowered his weapon and grasped the sheet. He looked up to ensure that his path was clear for a few steps and unfolded the sheet before staring at the hastily scribbled diagrams. Despite the damp air beginning to cause the ink to run and fade, he made out a few different types of what appeared to be large water pumps, valves and fittings. "This isn't really my specialty either, but I think between the two of us we can figure it out. It doesn't look like much other than piping and pumps to fit it."

Maya skipped up behind them eagerly and peered at the sheet before saying, "I hope you boys can figure something out, and I hope we find what we're looking for soon. Tantalus depends on it."

Seltic sighed and cut a corner to follow Stanley and Kyros, who were leading the group through the twisted and blocked streets. "I hope so too. Do you think that they'd deny us what we need if we don't find what we're looking for today?"

"I don't think so," she replied in a nasally voice as she pinched her nose to avoid breathing a particularly unpleasant gout of fumes. "But, I'm sure they won't just keep handing stuff out if we don't. I'd like to think that they are reasonable people, but I know I wouldn't give everything away for someone I barely knew."

Kyros looked back and added, "Me neither. Plus, I'd really like to avoid having to come back here for this if we can help it, which means we need to find something that'll work. If it's not what they want exactly, but it works, then tough."

"I'm with you," Seltic said. He paused to allow Vladimir to move ahead and begin scouting for possible contacts before saying, "I just want this whole situation to be over. I hate being in limbo like this with Tantalus. Hopefully he'll make it... but given what we've got to go through just to give him a chance..."

Maya looked down and replied, "I know, I know. I just wish there was something else we could do." She sighed and went on, "I'm just trying not to think about the bad possibilities."

Kyros held his hand up to halt the group's progress and asked, "Okay, I think we're getting close to the right station. Where exactly were we supposed to go?"

Kaplain stared at the sheet in his hand for a second before deciding to hand it over to Kyros. "Uh, maybe you'd best check it yourself."

"Of course they wouldn't put the exact spot on here," Kyros said to himself as he glanced over the faded images. "Well, we're in the right area, should it matter which building we choose?" he asked, looking in the general direction of Seltic and Kaplain.

Seltic shrugged and looked around for a sign or indicator of the contents of the buildings next to them and replied, "If what we're looking for is here, there will probably be dozens of the parts strewn about the buildings. I guess we should just pick one and give it a look. That sure beats standing around wondering what to do."

"Any building that has treatment or pumping parts in it would probably have the best chance of having what we're looking for," Kaplain added. He pointed to the building taking up the entire view from the far side of the alley and said, "Given the amount of large pipes coming out of that building I'd say it's a good place to start."

Kyros stuffed the paper into his pocket and said, "Okay then, let's check for bots and head in."

Seltic leaned up against the wall next to him as he thought over what they were looking for, trying to avoid placing his hands near any of the sinister looking fluids dripping from seams in the pipes nearby. He glanced at the building Kaplain pointed out and an unsettling thought entered his mind as he stared at the massive delivery system pipes jutting from it.

"How big of a thing are we looking for here?"

Everyone stopped to stare at him for a moment. "What do you mean? You don't know?"

"No, and that's got me worried. They aren't looking for something several meters in diameter are they? There's no way we'd remove such a thing much less get it out of here."

"I don't think so," Kaplain replied. "Surely they wouldn't have sent teams out like this to look for it if was that big, would they? Let me see the paper again."

Kyros continued to check the streets as he blindly removed the page from his pocket and handed it over. "Make it quick, I think we've got a clear run if we go soon."

"Let's go then," he said. "Just looking at the numbers here it looks small enough to carry off."

Stanley stepped cautiously into the street to make a final check for patrolling security robots before saying, "Okay then, let's go. Make a break for the maintenance hatches over by the pipes."

* * *

Kyros ducked under a low pipe as he continued to follow Stanley into the bowels of the water processing facility. He hadn't expected much security in the relatively unimportant structure, but the complete lack of anything so far was beginning to concern him. If everything had been diverted from here to investigate their blundered entry earlier, it would only be a matter of time before the armed guards returned to their posts.

"Why does Robotnik even need a water treatment plant like this?" Kaplain asked from somewhere behind him. "It's not like he actually cleans the water he uses."

"Must just have been here since before the takeover," Seltic answered. "I suppose he never found a need to demolish it to build over it."

Kyros stopped to ponder the direction to take at an intersection, his boots clanging unnervingly loudly on the suspended catwalk. "Well, his laziness is our gain. Maybe he at least kept the place maintained somewhat. It would really suck if we found the pump and stuff only to have it rusted and falling apart."

"I wouldn't count on that," Seltic said unnecessarily. "But, maybe whatever we find wouldn't have been used much."

Kyros continued to analyze the three branching paths before them and asked, "Any idea which way we should go?"

"Just follow the pipes I guess," Kaplain answered.

Seltic stepped up and added, "Like he said, there's bound to be more than one part like what we're looking for in here.

"Fine, maybe we should split up then." Kyros turned to face the group and said, "Seltic and Vladimir, come with me. Kaplain, you're with Stanley and Maya."

"Sounds fine, let's go," Stanley said, motioning for his newly assigned squad to follow him down a path to their right.

Kyros waited for the group to thin as they headed off before leading his own squad down the path straight ahead. Dozens of pipes of varying size and level of disrepair lined the ceiling above them, leading off into the exposed facility for what seemed to be hundreds of meters before disappearing behind large tanks. "You got the paper?" he asked Seltic, realizing too late to ask for it before hand.

"Yeah, Kaplain said he can find what we need without it. It's probably best that I keep it."

"Right. Come on then, Vlad, keep an eye out for security."

As the badger offered a typical grunt of confirmation, Kyros returned his attention to analyzing the piping around him. He had only a vague idea of what to look for, and even then there was no guarantee that what the soldiers wanted would be exactly what they found. He glanced behind him and asked Seltic, "Okay, so what exactly does this pump thing look like?"

Seltic replied with a prolonged sigh, which usually meant that a short speech was about to follow. "That's the tricky part. We have the diagram here, but like the sergeant said, we probably won't find the same part that they lost. Anything similar should work though.

"For that matter, the arcology's technology is probably going to be a good bit more advanced than what's in here. Everything the overlanders had was more advanced, and I'd imagine that would include this too."

Kyros chuckled and said, "We're not looking for weapons and stuff here, it can't be that different can it?"

"Probably not... but you never know. Just looking at this diagram, it would seem to me that the arcology was using some sort of advanced electromagnetic field system to pump the water, and it was computer controlled. Anything in here would probably just be run of the mill parts, and given the size of the pump I'd imagine that would make it a lot less efficient."

"Will it work?"

"It's hard to say. I believe so, but water pressure would probably be a lot less. It's a whole lot better than nothing at any rate."

Kyros started down a staircase, trying to make as little noise as possible on the rickety catwalk. "If it works, that's all I care about. That's all they asked for, and they can figure the rest out."

"Yeah, I guess so. I just hope we can find it in the first place," Seltic replied as he followed him down to the lower level. "The pump system they had was just as simple plug-in type thing from the looks of it. It just fit between two pipes and when wired up to a controller system it would make the water move. If there's something similar here, it will probably look like a box about two thirds of a meter on each side."

Kyros pointed to a few pipes lining the wall to their left, running through a rectangular box before disappearing into the ground below. "You mean something like that?"

Seltic shot a glance to the construction and answered, "Yeah, actually. This won't work because it's feeding several small pipes instead of a large one, but it is something like what we'd need."

"You sure it won't work? That would be just too convenient I guess."

"I'm pretty sure. The pipe that it will need to feed was half a meter across, and this pump is for three much smaller pipes." He studied it for a moment more and noted a pair of flexible hoses exposed on its side. "Like I figured... these are pneumatic pressure pumps too, much less powerful."

"Great," Kyros said with a groan. "At least we know that there's something like it here. Were there any other parts we needed?"

"Some valves and pipe parts, but I'm not concerned about that. If it really comes down to it I think we have those parts back at Armadi."

Kyros turned away from the pipes and stared at a large row of enormous water storage tanks lining a far wall. "Maybe we should check those, they'd have to have some kind of pump system attached to them."

* * *

"Any luck?" Maya called down to Kaplain from her position on a scaffold above a tangle of pipes and cables. She tried to pick out the deer's blue coat through the mass of tubes and wires, desperately hoping that they would find what they needed soon.

"Not yet. All of this stuff looks too small," he called back, louder than she was comfortable with.

"Try to keep it down guys," Stanley said as he searched the paths visible around them for movement. "We don't want to get caught up down here by security, there's no way out except through them."

Kaplain stepped over to a clear area below and flashed them a small smirk. "Sorry. There's a few more places down here that look promising though, come on down."

Maya immediately started off toward the stairs leading down, anxious to offer whatever help she could to speed up the process. She nervously scanned the level below for any movement other than Kaplain before stepping down onto the badly stained and cracked concrete floor. She hurried over to Kaplain's side and stared blankly into another pile of assorted cables and flexible pipes that he was searching through.

"Nothing here, all of this is too small," he muttered to himself. "We've got to find some fairly big stuff if we're to have any hope of repairing the arcology's water system. All of this looks like its just feeding some chemical sensors or something. We need to find a water main or something... but then I don't know how we're going to shut the flow off."

"Would something like that be further down maybe?" Stanley asked as he joined them.

"Possibly, if nothing else there's bound to be the connections to the sewage system further down. Not that we'd be able to actually use something that large."

Stanley looked over to a screen covered door further down at the end of the path and said, "Well, that looks like an elevator of some sort, think we should give it a shot?"

"Sure, we're not gonna find anything here."

Maya swallowed and took a deep breath. Kaplain was right about that, but by going further down they were making it harder to get out in a hurry if things turned bad. At least with Stanley they would probably notice trouble before it started, but even a small force would either pin them in or call for reinforcements that would.

As the other two began making their way toward the unsafe looking elevator, she brushed the thoughts from her mind and pressed on after them. They had to take risks now, it was the only hope Tantalus had left.

"This doesn't look like it's been used in years," Kaplain grumbled at the ramshackle rusted components of the elevator that were exposed. "I hope it'll hold together."

"Don't say it that way," Stanley mumbled as he forced the jammed screen open. He stepped inside cautiously, listening for any telltale sounds of the weakened metal cracking or giving away. With no stomach churning groans emanating from the cart, he motioned the other two inside. "Seems safe, let's just hope it's got power."

Maya shut her eyes as Stanley pressed a button to send them to the lowest level of the building. The cart sat still for a moment as the sound of electrical lines around them began to hum with energy, finally lurching slightly as it began to descend. Rusted and unmaintained gears ground and squealed as they lowered the cart, and Maya hoped that if they didn't suddenly fail and send them to their death that they at least wouldn't alert security. They couldn't possibly go much further without running into something armed and ready to kill them.

An unspeakable feeling of relief washed over her as the worn elevator systems ground to a halt and silence at the basement floor. She took several more deep breaths to calm herself again, and stepped out of the cart first. As before, there was no sign of any defense forces in the area, only an apparently endless sea of storage tanks and piping.

She shrieked and jumped at a sudden shrill hiss behind her. She stumbled backward into a tank and covered her chest as her heart began to beat uncontrollably. As she tried to gather her wits, she noticed a breached pipe beneath the elevator venting steam with a weak hiss. Inside the elevator Kaplain and Stanley had dove for the floor and tried to find the source of their apparent attacker. As they too became aware of the source of the sound, they cautiously rose to their feet and exited the elevator cart.

Kaplain weakly rubbed his own chest and groaned at the dull pain his elevated heart rate and blood pressure caused. Ever since the day he had been deroboticized, he suffered pain like this when stressed, and the thought of a robot suddenly leaping upon them was certainly enough to count. He gasped a few times and rubbed his aching temples before saying, "Geeze... I thought it was all over just now..."

Maya closed her eyes and took a moment to calm down. "Me too. Did any robots hear that?"

Stanley looked around quickly and said, "I don't see any at least. Let's get going before something else goes wrong."

* * *

Kaplain tried to ignore the persisting dull pain in his head as he observed the array of connecting pipes attached to the storage tank in front of him. Just like the dozen before it, it had parts similar to what they needed, but were too small. He looked up and stared over a pair of much larger tanks situated in a recess in the floor to his right, and began walking over to them. Large tanks might have larger parts after all.

He rubbed an ache in his hip where Seltic had rebuilt his previously robotic body. If they did run into a robot now, he only hoped they managed to defeat it without dragging the fight on. He cautiously hopped down into the hole housing the tanks, grunting as the shock jarred his aching joints. The massive tanks towered over him, humming curiously as some internal machinery churned along.

He pressed on and shuffled over to four massive pipes jutting from the walls and leading into the tanks. The size of these was much more promising, and with renewed hope he twisted his way past a tangle of cables to reach the base of the tanks. He felt his heart rate climb again with excitement as his eyes tracked over the machinery attached to the tanks. Just a meter ahead sat two large water pumps chugging along quietly, perfect for what they needed.

"Hey guys, I think I found what we need!" he shouted without thought to the possible security robots that might overhear them. He fiddled with the tools on his belt and found a wrench that looked large enough to unscrew the bolts fastening the pump to the pipes around it. With all of his energy, he thrust his weight into the wrench to close the valve, prompting a loud hiss as the system vented pressure. He waited for the pressure indicator to fall to nearly zero, and began working on the fasteners.

Stanley appeared at the guard rail above him. "You found it?" he asked, excitement clear in his voice.

"Yeah, I think this will work. I even found two, just in case something goes wrong with one."

"Great, need some help?"

Before Kaplain could reply, "Yeah," Stanley was already down in the pit with him. He helped him force the bolts loose on the piping, straining against the rusted-together metal. As they finally cracked the final bolt loose, a sudden forceful blast of steam and water sprayed them down and blew the pump off, shearing off the damaged bolts.

The blast of water quickly slowed and died out, leaving them completely soaked but triumphant. Kaplain checked the pump quickly for damage before hoisting it up to the level above them. "Go get Maya, she needs to contact the others so they can come help us grab these and get out of here."

Stanley began to move for the stairs moments before the two hears Maya issue another startled cry. Both barreled up the stairs and looked in her direction, sure that they would find robots dragging her off to her doom or shooting at them. Instead, they found her staring down Kyros.

After a berating from Maya for sneaking up on her, he looked up and called to them, "Hey guys, we found something that will work. We've already contacted the others and let them know."

"We found something too," Kaplain said as he walked closer, ignoring the throbbing pain that returned from the excitement just now. "So we should have plenty to get things fixed."

"Excellent, they're on their way now to help us move the parts out of here. The sergeant said that they'd be here in about ten minutes."

Maya looked around nervously and said, "Are we safe here?"

"Yeah, actually," Kyros replied, abnormally confident in the statement. "She said that they haven't encountered but one robot so far. They had a few recon flights come in and check the place out since we've been here. Apparently almost all of the security and work forces have been diverted somewhere else. There's only a handful of bots keeping tabs on everything around here."

"Wh...why? Is Robotnik building something secret somewhere?"

"The sergeant said that they've noticed this for a while now, but can't find anything particularly unusual. Apparently it's just Robotnik trying out new security patrols or something, and this place apparently isn't that valuable.

"Anyway, let's grab the parts you found, I'm ready to get out of here as soon as they show up."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_Somewhere over the Great Forest_

_7:28 PM_

Kyros leaned back as much as he could in the uncomfortable SWATbot pod seat and kicked his feet up on the console. "Did we really have to go back to the arcology and install the stuff now?" he asked anonymously.

"We had to get the kidney, didn't we?" Seltic asked in response from behind him. "I suppose while we're there we can throw the part in and call it done."

"I hope it goes that fast," Kaplain added as he steered the ship slightly to remain behind the Royal Army's drop ship.

Seltic sighed and tried to picture the pumps in his mind, which were now unfortunately in the ship ahead of them and impossible to study. "Yeah, I know. If they still work after that job removing them, then we'll probably run into problems interfacing them with the pipes at the arcology. At least we should have enough that if we put them in series with each other they might make up for the lack of strength."

"Maybe it'll be enough anyway," Maya replied lethargically from her seat. She yawned and went on, "I'm very tired right now, I hope we can finish our job here quickly."

Stanley leaned forward in his seat and said, "Well, whatever we do let's just do it right. I like these people alright, but I'm ready to be back in Armadi for more than twelve hours at a time."

"We all are," Kyros said. "Any idea at all how long the repairs will take?"

"Not a clue," Kaplain answered from beside him. "Could be an hour, could be eight, it all just depends."

Kyros groaned. "Okay, just don't waste too much time doing a perfect job. Remember, we're all tired, but we've also got time working against us."

"I know, I know." Kaplain looked at the automatic mapping tool in the console to his right and said, "We're about fifteen minutes off from the arcology now. I'd say given that everything goes half right, we could be back in Armadi by eleven tonight. Worst case scenario is one or two tomorrow morning."

Maya caught herself as she began to nod off and said, "We'd probably best give Sissera a call when we get there, and when we leave. She probably needs to get started as soon as we can possibly get back."

Seltic looked down and said, "Yeah... I just hope she's up to it. I hate to doubt her, but this is a major ordeal to do without the right tools..."

"She's very worried about it too," Maya said. "I hate to ask even more from the army... but... they might be Tantalus' only hope. If nothing else, Sissera could do the surgery at the arcology." She wiped her eyes and stared down into the deck plating below and sighed. "I'll ask the major about it as soon as I get the chance. If he agrees, we might need to go pick her and Tantalus up immediately."

"We'll see. We need to at least get the thing installed first, then we can ask about that," Kyros added as he slumped against the side of the ship and closed his eyes.

* * *

Sergeant Morgan tensed slightly as she anticipated the ship setting down on the launch pad. She grunted involuntarily as the jarring touch down shot through the ship, and took a moment to let things settle. With a quick and practiced flick at the harness lock, she raised her crash restraint and slowly stood alongside her squad mates. She stretched slightly to alleviate the aches of sitting nearly perfectly still for half an hour and for carrying one of the unbelievably heavy water pumps to the ship.

She glanced over to the corporal and offered a hand to help him up. "You alright?" she asked customarily as she noticed the massive burn on the shoulder of his environmental cloak.

He smirked and moved his arm around to test its movement. "Fine. I could barely tell they hit me."

She removed her chest armor and dropped it lazily into her seat atop her already removed helmet and mask. "Make sure you get checked out anyway. Might need some antibiotics or something."

"I'll go with private Vidal." He removed his armor as well, peeling the burnt coat from his shoulder with a grimace and snarl of pain. The fur had been burnt away as well, revealing singed and blistered skin beneath. "Maybe it's worse than I thought."

"I mean it Sam, make sure you get that checked out." She glanced over to the injured rabbit standing across from them and noted the similar burns across his chest through his shirt. "Vidal, report straight to the medical ward with the corporal here. I'll send the debriefing to you later."

The rabbit nodded and weakly replied, "Yes, sir."

She waited for the two to exit the ship through the recently lowered loading ramp, and began making her way outside. As she exited the ship, she turned to the remaining soldiers inside and said, "Alright, make sure these parts make it to the basement where they're needed. I'll scrounge up the maintenance teams and send them down there as soon as I can."

Before she could even place a hoof on the pavement below, she made out the familiar faces of their assistants piling out of their own ship. She had questioned their usefulness beforehand, but now that they had found the pumps on their own, she was very thankful that they had come with them. She understood then that they were in a desperate situation, but only now did she realize how much they were really willing to go through to help their friend.

"Good work," she addressed to them as they drew near. "We'll have teams installing the pumps as soon as possible. With any luck, that's all that we'll need."

"You need us to help, right?" the green tenrec among them asked cautiously.

"If you could, it would really be appreciated," she replied. "Naturally we'd like to get things going as soon as we possibly can, so if you can speed things up it would be even better."

"Where do we go?" the deer asked.

She pointed back to the soldiers unloading one of the pumps and answered, "Just follow them. They'll take the parts to the basement, once the tech teams arrive they'll show you what needs to be done."

The elderly mink among them, Maya, she believed, looked at both of them and shooed them on without a word. As the two trotted off after the working soldiers, she said, "Okay, they'll do whatever they can. Should I talk to the major again about getting the kidney?"

She stared back for a moment, unaware of any specific details that had been arranged. "I suppose, come on, I'll walk you there. I have to give him a report of the situation anyway." She looked up to the other three standing about and said, "Feel free to make yourselves at home for the moment. The cafeteria and rec facilities are open all day."

She motioned for Maya to join her at her side and started off toward the arcology's side entrance again. From the corner of her eye, she could make out Maya wringing her hands nervously and apparently trying to work up the nerve to say something.

"Sergeant... I..." she began, losing her thoughts mid sentence.

"You can just call me Carrie, if you'd like. I'm not your commanding officer," the sergeant replied with a chuckle. "What do need?"

Maya was silent for a moment more as she thought. Finally, she said, "We-we're concerned that our surgeon won't be able to do the surgery herself back home. I hate to ask for more help from you all... but do you think it would be too much to ask for for us to use your surgical ward?"

Carrie sighed and looked down as she fiddled with the door controls and swiped her access card. "I don't think the major would mind, but again, it's not my call. Believe me, we want to help you as much as we can, but there's a lot to think about when it comes to that. Quarantine, use of supplies, time in the facility, and so on, you see."

Maya frowned and nodded in understanding as she followed after her into the dark hallway. As before the two made their way through a large cavernous room filled with civilians conversing among themselves, and ultimately to the elevator that led to the major's quarters.

"The major might be a bit busy with administration right now," Carrie said as they reached the top floor of the arcology. "I'll see if he has time to speak with us right now."

Like the time before, she stepped over to an intercom next to the large wooden doors and pressed a button. "Major, do you have a moment?"

"Come in, come in. I'm actually a bit bored right now," the raven's voice returned through the aged and worn speaker.

As the lock on the door clanged open, the sergeant slid it open and led Maya inside. She saluted her superior officer and said, "Major, Ms. Morceaux would like to speak with you a minute."

"At ease," he answered, waving them over to his desk. "First, how did the mission go? I hear you found several replacement parts."

"I'll have the details in the report here tomorrow morning, but yes, we did find three replacement parts. One of the techs with Ms. Morceaux here believes that we'll need to use at least two of them right now to keep up with demand."

"As long as it works, that's all I care about," he replied eagerly. He turned his attention to Maya and asked, "So, what is it that you wanted to speak about?"

Maya looked away as she tried to collect her thoughts, and said, "We really appreciate you giving us the kidney as we needed... but I think we may have another problem..."

He raised an eyebrow and said, "Go on."

"Our... surgeon... is concerned that she won't be able to do the surgery alone with the facilities we have. The kidney is a big help, but without the right tools and space to work, she doesn't think she can pull it off."

He smiled as much as his beak would allow and asked, "So you think our surgical ward would be a better place?"

She nodded sheepishly and said, "I really hate to ask it of you in addition to all you've given us so far, but it would be a tremendous help."

He nodded and leaned back in his seat. "I don't see why not. We can certainly spare it for a day or so, it's not like much happens around here, and there's space for twenty patients if need be. As soon as we find out how things are going with the water delivery system, I'll let you know when the ward will be available. We've got a few things scheduled I believe, but if necessary they can be pushed back."

Maya smiled broadly and said, "You'll let us use it then? Oh, thank you so much, you just don't know how much this means to us."

"Don't worry about it... I know you're going through hard times right now, and you'd do the same for us if we were in your position."

"Absolutely," she replied. "I'll tell my people to get the water pumps fixed as quickly as they can."

He chuckled and looked over to the sergeant. "See to it that things get started soon. I'm going to go speak with our head surgeon."

* * *

Seltic watched as Kaplain helped guide a pipe into position as two of the technicians hefted it into place. He had neglected to offer to help move it personally, physical labor never having been his strong suit. Kaplain was notably stronger than himself, but Seltic was beginning to feel guilty letting him do it all alone given that he could easily aggravate the persisting pains and joint problems he suffered.

He stepped over to the large pipe and offered a small nudge to help it into place, trying not to get in the way of the bison doing most of the work. "That do it?"

Kaplain quickly studied the joint and replied, "Yeah, just need to get the bolts set on the seal." He looked over to the techs and directed the one with the air drill over to the seal. "That should do it for getting this pump set up at least, let's just hope that it can handle it alone."

Seltic waited for the unbelievably noisy drill to force the bolts down and lock the pipes into place with a force impossible to achieve by hand. After having been down here standing about aimlessly for nearly half an hour, he was ready to do something meaningful. With the pump secured into place, he would now at least be able to test the computer system and find out if the pump really would work.

He checked the connections running from his computer and the pump for unwanted condensation that would short it out, and sat on a crate close by. He initiated a few diagnostic programs he had copied from the arcology's main computer system, and watched as data filled the screen. Beyond belief, the computer reported line-by-line that all things were set up correctly and ready for operation.

"Well, looks like things are good to go. The pump is reporting no problems, so if someone wants to turn it on we can find out."

A beaver standing silently among the small team of techs placed a key into the pump and turned it, followed by pressing a few buttons. After a brief moment of silence, a chime sounded followed by the unmistakable rumbling of pressure building up in the pipes around them. Water was audibly flowing through the pump, and for a moment Seltic thought that it might actually work.

As if fate heard his thoughts and recognized the challenge, a deafening warning blared from the pump several times followed by a sudden silencing of the water flow and a small red light glowing in the dark room, reflecting through the dark lighting off of dozens of pipes around it.

Seltic groaned and stared at the warning now displayed on his computer. "Everything is hooked up right... the pump just can't handle the water pressure."

The lead tech sighed and turned to one of his subordinates. "Go get the other pumps. Looks like we're gonna have to hook them all up." He looked at Seltic and said, "Let's just go ahead and hook up all three, just to be sure. I'd hate to hook another up and it still not be enough."

Seltic nodded and shut the screen on his computer. "Yeah, we don't have a huge amount of time to waste."

Kaplain stood and stretched. "At least this isn't taking too long as it is. I was worried that this was going to take hours and hours."

"Yeah, these pumps seemed almost made for this place." Seltic looked down at the computer and decided perhaps it was best not to tempt fate further with positive thoughts. Things always seemed to turn out better if you didn't expect much in the first place.

* * *

At the far end of the cavernous and sparsely populated recreational room, Kyros could make out Maya and a black feathered bird of some sort approaching. He studied the raven for a moment before noticing the rank chevrons sewn onto his sleeves, and recognized him as the major that the soldiers had referred to several times. By Maya's obviously relieved expression, he assumed that the major had agreed to allow them to use the arcology's hospital.

He smiled briefly at the civilian chinchilla speaking with him and said, "Excuse me, but I need to go speak with the major."

The chinchilla stumbled over his words for a moment as he realized Kyros was leaving, prompting a tired sigh from the echidna. He didn't mind being around strangers, but now wasn't the time to be standing around aimlessly. A handful of the soldiers, now including Sergeant Morgan, were beginning to crowd around as well, possibly expecting an important announcement of some sort.

"Good news, I take it?" he asked nonchalantly as he drew close to Maya.

"Absolutely," she replied instantly, smiling and making a small gesture toward the major. "They've agreed to allow us to use the surgical ward, and we were just in contact with Sissera. She says that Tantalus is stable for the moment and will probably be fine to move here."

The news elated his mood slightly. Perhaps what they'd been working for all this time would finally pay off. "That's good, are we leaving now to get them?"

"We're waiting for the next air traffic control window to open up," Major Simmin answered. "It should be ready in five minutes or so. Ms. Morceaux here has agreed that your techs will stay with us to keep working on the water system while you're away."

Kyros doubted that Kaplain or Seltic had been asked to agree with them, but in all likelihood they would have no problem with it. As he nodded and thought, the groan of a poorly maintained metal door swinging open echoed through the room. He looked over to see Kaplain trotting into the room with an optimistic smile plastered on his face.

"Perhaps it won't be necessary," Major Simmin muttered to himself.

Kaplain clomped over to them, smoothing water-soaked fur back along his arms and hands. "We've almost got things working now," he said between quiet pants. He drew in a deep breath and continued, "We had to hook all of the pumps up to get enough pressure, but Seltic is finishing things now. He said he's just got a little fine tuning to do on the computers."

The raven let out a sigh of relief and shook his hand without any warning. "Thank you very much, you don't know how much of a problem this has been for us." He looked over to Maya and said, "Trust me, it's completely worth it for us to help you out for this."

Maya smiled and looked away. "No, we can't thank you enough. Tantalus' life depends on this."

Kyros nodded and looked down, a nervous smirk on his face. "Yeah, but it's not over yet. We've got to hope that Sissera can pull off the surgery. She didn't sound very confident."

"Then why not let me do it instead?" an aged female voice said from his side.

Kyros began to look up, expecting to find the head surgeon or someone related standing at the side entrance, but his eyes caught sight of Kaplain and Maya's faces. He instantly recognized the shock and fright in their expressions, and snapped his head over to examine the source of their fear. A cold rift ran down his entire body.

Without a thought he snatched his weapon up and aimed at the woman standing in the doorway, holding an innocuous box. Instead of the fur or scales he expected, only pale skin was exposed under her white doctor uniform. Kyros felt an inexplicable fear and anger began to well up in him as he examined her features, and memories of Robotnik and the aftermath of the Great War began to come back to him. There, standing completely obliviously, was an old overlander woman.

Instantly the sound of a dozen weapons being unslung or removed from their holsters met his ears, and he looked around to find the soldiers now pointing rifles and pistols in his direction.

"Drop it, slowly," Sergeant Morgan said dryly, rifle leveled at his head.

Kyros blinked and stared for a few moments, stunned. "Wh-what?"

She stepped forward, weapon still aimed squarely at his head. "Put it down, now."

He knew from her tone that she wasn't joking around, and he slowly lowered his weapon. She removed the rifle from his feeble grip and stepped back. With a wave of her hand, the other soldiers, including the major, lowered their own weapons.

"Sorry, I seem to have that effect on new comers," the overlander woman said after a moment through a strange accent he didn't recognize. She stepped into the room and offered the box to Maya, saying, "This is the kidney you asked for. I see that you don't trust me, so I'll leave it to you to decide what to do with it."

All three stood speechless. Maya gawked for a moment before finally regaining her composure enough to reach for the box. "Th-thank you," she stammered with difficulty.

Major Simmin holstered his pistol and frowned at Kyros. "I suppose I should have warned you first that our head surgeon, Dr. Valtorta, was an overlander."

"You think?" Kyros snapped, momentarily losing track of the fact that he was addressing the leader of the army and holder of Tantalus' salvation.

Major Simmin nodded solemnly and said, "Sorry, it hadn't crossed my mind. Believe me, she's the best there is. She's been with us the entire time, and she's saved more lives than I can count."

Kyros stared at Maya, hoping for a cue on what to say next. As if she understood his plight, she said, "I see... I-I'm sorry for our reaction... it's just been so long since I've seen an overlander outside of Robotropolis."

Dr. Valtorta smiled and lowered her glasses to get a better look at them. "Trust me, I hate Robotnik just as much as you do. He killed my entire family and would have killed me too if he knew I was in Mobian territory."

The major nervously checked a watch in his pocket and said, "Yes, well I believe your flight window will be ready soon, now that things have been resolved so quickly. I can see that things are a bit uncomfortable at the moment, so perhaps we should continue this conversation later after we've all had time to calm down." He tapped the box in Maya's hands and said, "I'll leave it to you to think about what you want to do. I'll leave the option open for you to let Dr. Valtorta do the operation here, if she's willing."

"Of course," the woman replied.

"Alright then, just think about it. The flight control tower is open at the moment so if you want to leave, now is the best time."

* * *

Kyros sat silently in the copilot's seat of the SWATbot pod, staring off through the plastic wind shield in front of him. He was completely taken back by the events just minutes before. Never in a thousand years had he expected to meet another overlander after Robotnik had supposedly killed them all, and especially not now and not at the arcology. His body still felt slightly numb from the experience, and his thoughts continued to cross and distort one another as he tried to come to grips with it. He had no idea how the army had found her or decided to trust her, but he knew enough about overlanders to make up his own mind about her.

Behind him, Maya shifted in her seat and let out a weary sigh. She sat the box holding the cybernetic kidney in front of her and leaned forward, propping her chin up on her hands.

"I don't know what to do..." she trailed off, speaking to no one in particular. "The... doctor... might be Tantalus' only hope... but I don't know if I trust her with him."

Kyros blinked as the words snapped him out of his daze. "I don't trust her at all," he muttered. "I don't care what the others think, she's an overlander and that's all that matters to me."

Kaplain grunted from the back seat and slumped against the plastic interior of the craft. "Me neither, I don't think I could ever trust an overlander again."

"Come on now, Robotnik doesn't speak for all of them," Seltic said from the pilot's seat. "They can't all be bad, and she's been with them for how many years now?"

"Doesn't matter what Robotnik did. He doesn't speak for them all, but they speak for themselves," Kaplain replied, staring off through the wall. "Overlander hunters killed my nephew. Just for the fun of it. It's hard to forgive a species that can spawn monsters like that."

Kyros frowned as he began to recall the reports of overlanders hunting and killing some Mobians that strayed off alone. It was one of the biggest reasons that the Mobians declared war against them. Even if the hunters had continued, it would have made a huge difference if the overlander government had tried to stop it. All of the overlanders he had ever known were criminally selfish or bloodthirsty. And the doctor at the arcology had to have it in her too, deep down somewhere, she was an overlander.

"It's hard to trust her... I know," Maya said. "But it's just this one thing, what good would it do her to kill Tantalus?" No one replied. "I think we need to leave it up to Sissera on what to do. She's the one who has to do the surgery."

"Yeah," Seltic replied after an awkward pause. "Whatever the decision, it'll be over this time tomorrow. I just want to do whatever is best for..." he trailed off.

Kyros sat in silence for several seconds before picking up where he left off. "Tantalus?" At Seltic's continued silence, he looked up to see him staring intently at the forest ahead of them. "What? You see a buzzbomber or something?"

The tenrec shook his head and pointed through the window. "What in the world is that? Is that where we blew up the storage tanks?"

Kyros jumped forward in his seat and looked to where Seltic was pointing. The obliterated and scattered remains of several containers and robots laid strewn about a mysterious gray soot. The sand on the shore had all but turned black, and the trees and plant life had begun to wilt and shift to a soft gray color. An ominous thin film of gray covered the water lapping at the beach, devoid of the usual foam. "What happened?"

Seltic shrugged and continued to stare out over the scene. He began to maneuver the ship around to find a landing spot, prompting Kyros to ask, "Is it safe to land? What is all of that stuff?"

"I don't know, but there's only one way to find out. It looks like ash, so it's probably safe."

"It's not chemicals from the containers?"

"I don't know, but it's doubtful," Seltic replied as he drew the ship to a stop. "Normal stuff would have reacted or disappeared by now, maybe it's just ash from fires."

"I don't like this," Kyros said. "We got any air filters or something?"

Seltic looked back to the others as he began to set the ship down and asked, "Kaplain, can you check the equipment container and see what we've got?"

* * *

"What on Mobius happened to this place?" Stanley asked as he trudged through a centimeter of loose ash toward the previous foundation of one of the containers, his voice muffled and distorted by the face mask he wore. Both SWATbot pods had managed to set down relatively uneventfully on the mysteriously corrupted beach, and by now everyone was scrambling to figure out what was going on.

Kyros cut a glance to Seltic and said, "Ask him, not me."

Seltic ran his finger through a patch of the ash and said, "It's not normal ash, whatever it is. It's almost like graphite... maybe Robotnik was storing some here to make diamond with later?"

"You sure that's what it is?" Kyros asked as he kicked a destroyed robot over.

"No, no way to be sure without a chemist and lab to check it in. It doesn't appear to be floating around though, so it's probably safe to breath the air." He stepped over to a wilted tree and tried to wipe the substance off of a curling leaf. A thin layer swept off, revealing gray stained material below. "The plants seem to have absorbed it though, however that could be."

Stanley stepped over the ruined remains of a roboticized hyena and asked, "Think we should bring some if it back with us?"

"No... it's probably best to just leave it as is for the moment. We don't have any way of checking it out, and if it is some kind of poison or something I'd rather not risk contaminating Armadi with it." He surveyed the landscape for a moment and continued, "We can come back and check it out later after we've taken care of Tantalus."

Kyros closely observed the demolished robotic zebra near him and said, "Well, at least we took the place out, whatever Robotnik was planning." He traced his vision across several destroyed robots and began to recall the fight from before. Eventually his eyes settled on a trench-like path partially covered by the soot, leading over to a grounded SWATbot pod sitting halfway in the ocean. "Wait a sec, what happened over there?"

Stanley looked up and headed over to the shallow trench, noticing claw marks in the ground around it as he drew closer. "Looks like one of the bots dragged themselves over to the pod." He glanced at Kyros and said, "I thought we made sure we got them all."

"We did. Maybe one got back up after we left." He glanced at the open hatch of the pod and went on, "Maybe we should find out if he radioed Robotnik. If he did, Robotnik might be in the area looking for us."

Seltic trotted over to pod, pausing intermittently as his boots sank into particularly deep mounds of sand and ash. "Maybe it's still working..." he said to himself, staring into the hold of the ship.

Kyros drew his rifle and walked up behind him. "Yeah, let me check it out first. If it's still working it might want to try and kill us again, you know?"

He tossed a chunk of debris inside, hoping to draw any inhabitant's attention with the noise and commotion. After a long silence, he slowly slipped his way inside, keeping his weapon aimed at the two front seats. A destroyed SWATbot laid limp over the console, bits and pieces scattered around as it was smashed apart in the crash. In the copilot's seat, a distinctly non-SWATbot robot similarly laid silently and limply against the console.

He nudged its shoulder with his gun, ready to finish it off it awoke and began attacking them. He recognized the small meerkat from before, and fought to keep from shooting its head off now after it destroyed his favorite rifle. The machine was slumped against the console, and its face looked as if it were a normal person who had simply fallen asleep.

"Yeah, there's a bot in here," he called outside, a slight hint of displeasure in his voice. "It must not have been completely destroyed in the fight, because I remember shooting it before. It must have crawled back in here to radio Robotropolis."

Seltic clambered inside and eagerly took up position beside Kyros. He prodded the ravaged robot and grinned like a child with a new toy. "Great. If he managed to drag himself over here, maybe he's still functional."

Kyros raised an eyebrow in anticipation of his next statement. "So...?"

"Let's take him back to Armadi! I might be able to fix him up like Kaplain. If he didn't overcome the mind control on his own, maybe I can with the neural overrider."

Kyros wanted to protest over the sake of time and inconvenience, but knew that it was probably best to just let Seltic do what he wanted to save time. The robot was probably beyond recovery anyway, and Seltic might be able to scrap it for parts if needed. "Alright, fine, let's just grab it and go. I'm sure Maya is getting anxious."

Without a further word, Seltic eagerly hopped into the front of the ship and began tugging at the robot.

* * *

The familiar sound of the SWATbot pod approaching convinced Sissera that it was probably time to leave Tantalus to the computers' automated monitors and head outside. Maya had radioed half an hour before hand and told her that they were on the way with the kidney, and once more the thought of the impending surgery weighed heavily on her mind. She crossed her arms as she waited anxiously for the ships to approach and land, unable to see them through the foggy midnight sky. A faint engine flare winking through the clouds caught her eye, and clearly marked it as the pod Seltic had modified to work on poor quality fuels.

Marcus was long ago in bed, a fact she was mildly thankful for. It was hard enough to convince herself that Tantalus would make it through this, but trying to keep tabs on him and keep his spirits up was very taxing. She cringed and shut her eyes at muffled warning beep from a computer inside, the same that she had heard hundreds of times over the past few days. There was nothing she could do about the infection right now, but she dared not turn the warnings off in case something else went wrong.

As the ships finally drew close and began to lose altitude, she started to ponder over another comment Maya had made. The army had agreed to allow them to use their surgical facilities, but Maya had something serious to discuss before she agreed to it. The thought was quite unsettling, as Sissera had made it clear before that it would be a thousand times better than what she had here. Coupled with the fact that Maya was just as desperate to help him as she was herself, things must have been very serious indeed.

She blinked a few times and cleared her mind as the ship entered the garage and shut off, the pulsing hum of the engines shifting to a faint echoing rumble before dieing completely. Things were unusually calm this time, with no one seeming to be in an extreme hurry to exit the pod. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she continued along. Perhaps the others were as tired as she was.

Seltic and Kaplain were exiting their pod as she finally reached the hangar door, dragging much to her surprise what appeared to be a trashed robot. She opened her mouth to question the scene, but was cut off as Maya hopped down from the ship's deck and began approaching her with a large, plain looking box.

"Well, we've got it," the old mink said, offering the box to her. "I didn't look inside, but I hope it's the right thing."

The text on the side of carton confirmed that it was a cybernetic kidney, intended for use in young overlanders or adult Mobians. "Good," she said, unease creeping into her voice. She took the box and looked Maya in the face, saying, "You had something to talk about first?"

Maya nodded and nervously scratched her arm. "Let's walk back to the infirmary."

Sissera silently followed by her side as she started off to the dimly lit building across the center of the town. Maya was clearly worried about something.

She looked over to Sissera and said, "The good news is that the army agreed to let us use their hospital if we wanted." She hesitated for a moment and wrung her hands before continuing, "And... their head surgeon has agreed to do the surgery for us."

Sissera felt as if the entire world has been lifted from her shoulders. "That's excellent news... they would be so much better qualified to do this than me."

Maya nodded and looked away. "Maybe, but there is a problem." As they reached the door, she said, "The head surgeon is... an overlander."

Sissera instantly halted reaching for the door. Worry began to return at an alarming rate. "What?"

"Their surgeon... Dr. Valtorta... is an overlander. She agreed to do the surgery, but... I don't think I need to say why I wanted to speak with you first."

Sissera stared blankly back for a few seconds. Maya certainly had no need to elaborate more. There was no way she would trust Tantalus' health to an overlander, not after all they had done. "No... please don't tell me that. How? Where did she..."

"I know, I can't believe it either." Maya turned away and sighed. "Kyros lost his wits for a second and even pointed a gun at her, so now I really don't know if we should trust her." She looked in through the window at Tantalus and continued, "That's why I wanted to leave it up to you what to do. I know you don't feel confident doing this yourself, and I hate to put you in this position... but it's just a decision I can't make myself." Maya squinted and rubbed her chest, saying, "This is almost too much for me to take as it is."

Sissera thought over the possibilities, running dozens of scenarios through her mind. She hated to give Tantalus over to an overlander, but the thought of doing the surgery herself was still unsettling. "I... don't know. I just don't know."

Maya nodded and took a step away from the door. "You don't have to make up your mind this instant, but the sooner the better. I'll be in my house. Just come let me know when you've decided, I don't think I'll be going to bed any time soon."

Sissera watched her slowly walk off, and she let the racing thoughts mingle with themselves in her mind again. She was terrified to give Tantalus over to the overlander and let her kill him, but at the same time she was trembling at the thought of doing it herself. Maya was right though, whatever was going to be done had to be done very soon.

* * *

In a way, Kyros couldn't believe that Seltic was already hooking the trashed robot up in his workshop. But in another way, he knew from the moment Seltic laid eyes on it that he would start working on him immediately. He had considered trying to catch a little sleep, but the possibility of Sissera deciding to let the overlander do the surgery meant that he would probably be up again in an hour or less anyway. At least this way he wouldn't be bored.

Kaplain watched intently from the other side of the room, staring at the lethargic expression fixed on the meerkat's face. He was also excited about the possibility of another roboticized Mobian being revived by Seltic and deroboticized, but Kyros knew that they had only had a chance to deroboticize Kaplain due to a fluke and it wasn't likely that they would have a shot at getting that close to the roboticizer on their own terms again.

"As far as I can tell, his... brain... isn't damaged," Seltic muttered half to himself as he finished analyzing every scuff and rent on the small robot's metal skin. "It looks like his legs are trashed though, and he took a shot close to his generator. He must have shut down from power failure."

Kyros vaguely recalled the machine babbling something about its radiator being damaged, but at the expense of getting Seltic to ramble on aimlessly for half an hour, he decided to stay quiet. He was skeptical that it was even possible to start it up again, but if Seltic did manage to perform some technological necromancy, he was more concerned that it might go berserk and start shooting again.

"Did you disable its weapons?" he asked as Seltic began to rummage through a pile of cables on the floor.

"Didn't find any," he replied. "There's no laser cannons in his arms, so I figure he's just a worker bot that didn't get armed for some reason."

Kyros let out a nervous chuckle and walked over to the robot. "Oh, he's armed alright. His eyes have lasers in them."

Seltic stood with a handful of cables of various colors and size. He studied the robot's half shut eyes and said, "Oh... okay. I'll just be ready with the power switch then."

As Seltic began to peel back flexible pieces of shredded rubber from the meerkat's midsection, Kyros removed his pistol from its holster and flicked the safety. "Yeah, you'd best be. If it starts shooting at me again, I'm not gonna ask any questions before I shut him down for good."

"Alright. We don't need to get killed over this, that's for sure." Seltic motioned for Kaplain to hand him a neural overrider and connected a large cluster of heavy cables to something inside of the robot. He took the neural overrider and found a good place to stick it on its temple, and said, "I'll just try and start him like normal to begin with. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll be like Kaplain was."

Kyros watched nervously as Seltic walked over to his computer and began fiddling with it. Sissera's description of how Kaplain had behaved right before nearly self-destructing didn't match how the meerkat behaved at all. He had a very strong suspicion that it was going to put up a fight.

Seltic stood erect from his computer and said, "Alright, I'm about to try giving him some power. If he starts freaking out and shooting, I'll shut him off as fast as I can." Seltic thrust his weight into a large breaker to force it open, and with a faint hum energy began to flow into the robot.

Just as Kaplain had after being given power, the meerkat's limp body stiffened as best its ruined joints would allow. Its eyes slid open slowly, and with a monotone and unnatural voice it said, "Power failure detected. Some control hardware damage has been detected, it may be unsafe to continue booting. Should I recover my operating system?"

"Yes," Seltic replied, unsure at this point precisely how he had managed to coax Kaplain back to life.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't understand you. Please try again."

Seltic groaned and turned to his computer to find a similar prompt. He fed the requisite response back to the robot, and looked back to see if anything had changed.

"Understood. Rebooting into normal mode. Please be advised that hardware damage may impair mental function."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaplain asked, intently studying the process.

"I don't know," Seltic replied, shaking his head. "You didn't say that when I restarted you."

"Maybe he's too badly damaged to work," Kyros added. "Although I only shot him in the legs and belly."

Between them, the meerkat's stiff posture slackened as its power died and cycled. The sound of damaged and sand choked mechanics grinding filled the room as it shifted on the table. Its eyes opened, and faint whirring motors focused the lenses as it began to study its environment.

"Master Snively? Have you come for me?"

Kyros' eyes grew wide and he pointed his pistol at it. Clearly it was still under mind control. "Alright, shut him off!"

Seltic raised his hand in Kyros' direction and said, "Wait a second, he doesn't seem to know where he is..."

"Lord Robotnik, is that you? Forgive me, my processor network is damaged and I'm having difficulty understanding you." The robot tried to prop itself up, slipping and clambering back onto the table as its elbow collapsed. "My damage is severe, I am unable to determine where I am."

Seltic leaned down to look at it more closely. "You're not in Robotropolis. Who are you? Can you understand me?"

The meerkat paused and looked Seltic in the face. "I don't understand... completely... I am servitor F1ROC11, on liaison from Sahria."

Kyros took a cautious step closer, keeping his weapon trained squarely on its head. "Okay Seltic, you've had your fun, turn him off before he goes nuts."

The meerkat blinked in confusion and looked over to Kyros, squinting as an organic creature might to help focus its vision. "Master... who is this?"

"Uh... it's-" Seltic began before the meerkat's eyes snapped open and it scrambled in an attempt to get to its feet.

"Intruder detected! Echidna alert priority two, all units attack at once!" it shouted, falling back over the table away from Kyros.

Kyros swore audibly as his aim was spoiled, and he raced around the side to get a clear shot again. The meerkat clambered away from him, repeatedly attempting to fire its badly damaged eye lasers at the three. Every attempt failed in a harmless crackle and flicker as damaged power lines in its eyes shorted, and in desperation it backed against the far wall and tried again to pull itself to its feet.

"Hold him still, let me try the neural overrider!" Seltic shouted amongst the chaos as he scurried over to his computer.

"Are you insane? Shut it off!" Kyros shouted, taking aim. He prepared to fire moments before Kaplain moved between them and grabbed hold of the robot. It shrieked in anger and fear as it tried to wrench itself free, but its weakened body only jerked harmlessly in Kaplain's grip. There was no way he would get a shot now, so he simply gave in and sprinted over, throwing his own weight into the grapple to ensure that it would stay put.

"Alright, got it!" Seltic called over to them from his computer. He hurried over to the power breaker and prepared to force it off if the neural overrider failed. "Any second now..."

The meerkat glared at Kyros and snarled. "Release me!" it shouted between hopeless attempts to wrestle its way free. It tried again and again to fire the destroyed cannons in its eyes, only filling the room with harmless flashes of red light.

Suddenly, its struggling ended. It stared aimlessly off into the distance, mouth slightly agape. Its eyes tracked around the room for a few seconds before it said, "Wh-what? Where am I?"

Without a word, Kyros and Kaplain released their grips and let the meerkat slide down the wall to the ground. It blinked and rubbed its eyes and said, "I-I can barely see or hear... what's going on?"

Seltic trotted over, a massive smile plastered on his face. "It worked!"

It looked in his general direction, confusion still evident in its features. "Huh? What worked?" It tried to stand but slumped back against the wall. "What..." it trailed off, its expression changing again to apparent pain. It grabbed at its temple where Seltic had placed the neural overrider and scowled, groaning in pain. "What's going on? My head hurts so bad..."

Its scowl worsened and the groaning turned to a shriek as it clawed at the small device. It placed both hands against the sides of its head and screamed in pain, spasming and collapsing forward. The foul smell of burnt out electronics instantly began filling the room, and it twitched briefly before going limp again.

Everyone stared down at the scene. "I think you killed it..." Kyros said after what seemed an eternal silence.

"No... please don't say that..." Seltic mumbled to himself. He flipped it over to find its expression fixated in pain and fear. "The overrider couldn't do that... I-I don't understand..."

He hopped up and cycled the power feeding to the robot, hoping that it would be like a typical computer and work again after rebooting. The burning electronics told him there was no hope, but he forced himself to try anyway.

The robot slackened and did as before. It stared up into the ceiling and began blurting out random errors and warnings. "Error, memory management unit not responding to interrupts. Processors along interrupt vector line seventeen not responding. Error, CRC check failed on memory units one through eighty-four. Data bus watchdog timer..."

"What's all that mean?" Kyros asked, looking over to Seltic.

Seltic ignored the request and power cycled the robot again.

"Malfunction. Data ROM checksum invalid count of seventeen thousand ninety-seven exceeds threshold. Unable to continue boot."

"No, no, no... come on..." Seltic mumbled to himself as he continued to cycle the robot.

"Malfunction. Data ROM checksum invalid count of nineteen thousand two hundred nine exceeds- Malfunction Data ROM- Malfunction-"

Seltic switched the robot off and slumped back into the chair at his computer. "I-I think I killed him..."

"The overrider?" Kyros asked innocently, taking a closer look at the tormented final expression of the meerkat.

"I don't know... I... I'd have to look at the electronics... I just don't know how..."

Kaplain crouched beside the mechanical meerkat and turned him over. "Do you think you can fix it? I mean, if you fixed me..."

Seltic frowned and stared at the robot's face. "I doubt it. I can't repair damaged integrated circuits or anything like that... only replace them. Even if I could find the parts his memory would be erased. He'd be brain dead..."

Kaplain sighed and closed the robot's eyes and shut its mouth gently. "Sorry... we tried" he whispered to it quietly.

* * *

_April 15, 3236_

I'm so confused right now. We managed to get the things we need to help Tantalus, and I was hoping that the hard part of it all would be over. But, just when things started looking up, we find that the army has been hiding an overlander at their arcology, and she is their surgeon.

We'd hoped to let them do the surgery instead of Sissera, since she was so terribly worried about it, but I don't think any of us trust the overlander. She might be Tantalus' only hope, but... I just don't know what to do. I can't make the decision myself, and I've left it to Sissera to decide.

Whatever she decides to do, we've done all we can for Tantalus, and I won't fault her no matter what her decision is. I just hope that we won't have to worry about Tantalus for much longer. The storage tanks we encountered a few days ago turned up to be holding something strange, but Seltic doesn't know what it is. I get the feeling that things will be picking up soon, and I can only hope

* * *

Maya trailed off mid-sentence as she typed away at her journal. She rubbed her chest hard and let out a pained sigh. The stress of this all must really be getting to her, she couldn't remember the last time she had headaches and chest pains like this. She saved her work on the computer and decided to finish it later when she had some answers. She wasn't doing much other than just reiterating the same ideas that had bounced around in her head for days now, and typing it didn't seem to be doing anything but making her even more antsy.

She looked over to her bed and suddenly felt an overpowering surge of exhaustion hit her. She drew in a deep breath and thought about the lack of sleep that they had all suffered in the past days as they frantically ran back and forth to try to save Tantalus' life. If she wasn't waiting for Sissera to decide on how to proceed, she would certainly be in her bed right now.

There wasn't any point in thinking about it, and if she kept on she would end up asleep before she knew it. She brightened the lighting in the hallway and began walking toward the staircase, trying to think about something else. There was the meerkat Seltic had brought back, and it offered a few logistical problems. If he managed to fix it and snap it out of the mind control like he did Kaplain, that would be another mouth to feed and another person to shelter. She groaned at the lack of positive thoughts and started down the stairs.

A startled gasp left her lips as she lost her footing on the first step and caught herself on the rail. She took a few moments to catch her wits and her now exhausted breath. If she didn't get some rest soon she was going to lose her mind. She cautiously made her way down the rest of the stairs, astonished at the amount of energy it took out of her. She paused at the base of the stairs and propped herself against the wall, panting in exhaustion.

As another stab of pain rippled through her chest and her pulse spiked, a sobering realization struck her. It had been quite some time before she'd had an opportunity to have it checked...

She blinked to focus her suddenly blurred vision and tried to calm herself. Maybe she was overreacting, it was just nerves. She shuffled over to the nearest chair and plopped herself into it as her legs began to feel like jelly beneath her. No, something was definitely wrong.

She breathed deeply a few more times, completely unable to catch her breath now. Another crippling strike of pain wracked her body, twisting her face into a contorted scowl. The overly tight and warm feeling spread to her back... She reached over to a nearby corner and managed to pull herself to her feet, but in this state she knew she would never make it to Sissera alone.

As if someone heard her plight, her front door lock clicked and the door slid open, revealing Sissera. The tenrec hurried inside and made for the stairs, completely missing Maya at first.

As she caught notice of the mink, she said, "Oh, I thought you were upstairs. I think that.." Her words trailed off as she studied her more closely. She turned her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. "Are... you alright?"

Maya shook her head and continued to heave in an attempt to stifle the feeling of being unable to breathe. "I-I think I might be having a heart attack..." she replied, disbelief covering her face.

Sissera gasped and covered her mouth. She raced over and tried to help her up, saying, "Can you walk?"

"I don't know... I feel so tired..."

Sissera set her back into the seat and placed her palms against her temples. "No... not now...." She mumbled something to herself and turned to face Maya. "I'll go get help, just... just stay right there."

* * *

"Should I leave you two?" Vladimir asked bluntly as he watched Sissera begin placing monitoring studs under Maya's shirt.

Sissera stared blankly through him for a moment and said, "Y-yeah, go tell the others what happened." She waited for the badger to nod and stride out of the building before returning to her work.

"How do you feel now?"

Maya's breathing had more or less returned to normal, and her expression was certainly less alarmed. "Not good by any stretch, but much better than just a minute ago," she answered, fatigue and fear still edging in her voice.

"Do you have a family history of heart disease? Weren't you genetically vaccinated against it?" Sissera questioned, adjusting some readouts on a small computer.

Maya shook her head. "It does run in my family, and they didn't have things like the vaccinations back then." She rubbed her chest and said, "But I don't think that's the problem... I had a pacemaker installed... something about some medication I took throwing my heart beat off."

Sissera's expression turned more grim, but she tried her best to hide her concern. "A pacemaker... how long ago?"

Maya thought silently and rubbed her aching arm. "Twenty five years ago or so, I don't know for sure."

A frown crossed Sissera's face as she studied the hectic readings on the EKG attached to Maya. "The battery might have died. I don't know how long they last."

Maya tried to catch a glance at the flickering display, but couldn't get a good look. "How bad is it?"

"Bad... just... just bad," Sissera replied in a half groan. "Your heart is still pumping, but it's erratic. The pacemaker might be making it worse right now... I just don't know." She watched Maya's face turn grim and looked away. "Whatever is wrong with it... it needs to be fixed right now. Not tomorrow, or the next day."

"Can you..." Maya began to ask before Sissera's grave expression answered her question.

Sissera took her hand and softly said, "I don't have what we would need to fix it, and I absolutely can't do it here. It just isn't possible."

Maya wiped her nose and eyes and muttered, "Then I'm – I'm going to..."

Sissera squeezed her hand and hugged her softly. "Of course not, I'm not going to let that happen to you. As soon as the others get back, we're going to take you and Tantalus to the arcology. I'm not going to let something silly like an overlander keep you two from getting better."

Maya nodded while still embracing her and said, "Thank you dear... you all mean the world to me."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_The Royal Army of Acorn's Arcology_

_10:02 AM, Two Days Later_

Kyros twisted and rolled over in the hard bed he laid in. It was one of the least comfortable beds he had the pleasure of using, but it was better than sleeping on the floor, and with the entire team's chronic lack of sleep over the past week or so he was eager to get a full night's sleep in anything. He groaned and tried to find a relatively comfortable position and continue sleeping, hoping to make the most of the opportunity. How the inhabitants of the arcology managed to sleep in these beds every night was beyond him.

His eyes cracked open as he heard the hushed footsteps of someone approaching their room, and he tried to shake off the groggy feeling still holding him in its grasp. A few seconds later, the unlocked door slid open, revealing a pangolin dressed in a white doctor's uniform. He stepped inside and took a quick look around to try and spot anyone awake.

"Yeah?" Kyros asked, volunteering himself.

The pangolin looked up to his bunk and smiled. "Sorry to wake you, but the doctor wanted to let you all know that Ms. Morceaux is awake now and strong enough to have visitors. If you would like to speak with her, I can let you in now."

Kyros nodded and sat up in his bed. He pulled himself from beneath the rough covers that he had discarded in the warm night before, and prepared to hop down. He mulled over the thought of asking for the air conditioner to be adjusted before the night, but decided it was best not to complicate things at the moment.

"Alright, give me a minute to get the others up." At least the uneasiness that had overshadowed them since they arrived two days ago would be lifted a little now.

* * *

"Right this way," the pangolin, Mr. Rao, said as he swung open a large door. Sissera followed along, customarily near the end of the group. She was anxious to see Maya again, and ever since they had arrived and given the two patients over to the overlander she had been very nervous and desperate to see them again. Practically the moment she saw them carried away and out of sight, she had begun to question her own decision. Maybe she should have done the surgeries herself.

"After you," Mr. Rao said, opening a door and allowing the group to enter a small hospital room.

Sissera eagerly skipped inside and found Maya sitting upright in her bed, looking out a window next to her. Maya turned her gaze in their direction, smiling weakly and offering a weak wave. Sissera hurried over and led the group in greeting her personally. She hugged her and whimpered, "I'm so glad to see you made it."

Maya grunted in pain at the squeeze and replied, "Me too dear. I had quite a scare there."

Sissera let up and said, "Sorry, I guess you're still a little sore."

"Yeah, but I've had worse." Maya straightened herself a little and continued, "I'm still a little tired right now, but I actually feel better overall than I have in years."

"That's good to hear," Kyros said.

Marcus stepped over to her and gave her a small hug. "I was worried about you Miss Maya."

"Me too," she replied. "Does anyone know how Tantalus is doing? I haven't had time to speak with the doctor."

"He's fine, last I heard," Sissera answered. "I think the doctor said that everything went alright, but it's going to be a few days before he's totally back to himself."

Maya nodded and leaned back against the head of her bed. "That's good to hear. The doctor said he would only need a few days? That doesn't sound like much."

Behind them, squeezed her way into the overly crowded room. She lowered a clipboard in her hands and said, "Sorry to interrupt everything here, but I just wanted to check up on Ms. Morceaux here." She looked to Maya and said, "Everything feeling alright today?"

"Very well, actually. Thank you again."

Dr. Valtorta flashed her a smile and said, "Well, actually I didn't even do your surgery. Dr. Voss did it, I just did your friend's since I'm the only one qualified to do cybernetic surgery." She adjusted her glasses and said, "You're welcome though, I'll pass the thanks on."

"How is Tantalus?" Seltic asked before Maya could.

The overlander smiled and turned to face him, saying, "Recovering well, all things considered. It's a miracle he survived as long as he did, considering the infection he had and the blood loss. You really should have gotten him here days ago."

"We didn't really know," Sissera offered, answering the unspoken question. "I do thank you for doing it though, I just don't think I could have."

Dr. Valtorta shook her head and said, "No, I do doubt it. I'm not doubting your skill, but without the proper computers and robotic surgical tools it would have been nearly impossible." She stepped off toward the door and said, "I hate to run, but I do have other obligations at the moment. Once you all are done visiting here, I'd like to meet you in Major Simmin's office. We have some things to discuss. No hurry."

Maya waited for her to leave before asking the obvious question, "Discuss what?"

Kyros shrugged and said, "Probably want us to do something else for them now that they had to fix you too."

"Maybe not," Sissera said. "They told me not to worry about it." She crossed her arms and let out a sigh before continuing, "Well, no need to worry about it right now. It must not have been a big deal."

* * *

Major Simmin idly brushed nonexistent dust from his desk as he waited patiently for the rest of his appointees to show up. Dr. Valtorta sat across from him, fiddling with a strange vial of some powdered gray substance that she claimed was of incredible importance. She had neglected to tell him exactly what it was, but he figured it was something that wouldn't mean much to him anyway.

"The others were on their way, yes?" he asked.

She looked over from her study and nodded silently. The powder seemed to be almost sludgy as it sifted about in the clear tube, and was certainly holding her attention more than his presence. "They were right behind me, although I believe Ms. Morceaux wanted to get changed into something more formal before joining us."

He nodded and glanced briefly at the digital clock suspended on the far wall, noting that it had been several minutes since she had arrived herself. He leaned back in his chair and adjusted his sleeve before asking, "So, what is it exactly that you have there? Anything I would understand?"

"Actually, I wish I knew entirely," she replied, setting it on his desk. "We found it inside of our two patients."

He involuntarily raised an eyebrow and leaned forward again to examine the small vial more closely. "Really? What on Mobius is it? Nothing I would expect to be found inside a living person."

"Me neither." She retrieved the vial and shook it about a few times to watch the particles settle and said, "It looks almost like some sort of carbon... graphite perhaps. If I'd just found it in one of them I might believe some sort of remotely unlikely and unusual metabolic disorder, but it was in both..."

Major Simmin thought for a few moments but his chance to speak was cut short as the buzzer on his desk alerted them to someone waiting to enter. He depressed the button and spoke into a small intercom, "Yes, come in."

The large wooden door before them opened automatically at the press of a button, locking mechanisms jolting open with hydraulic hisses. As expected, several of the Armadians entered the room, the same few that he recognized as pertaining to important matters plus a few he had not had the chance to meet more formally.

The small group quietly shuffled inside and found seats among the chairs scattered about the room, each silently looking to either him or the doctor for answers.

Major Simmin took a deep breath and said, "Thank you all for joining us, Dr. Valtorta has something... important to discuss with you." His eyes briefly tracked to Maya and he said, "I take it you are doing well."

She nodded and offered a tired smile. "Yes, thank you very much again for helping us."

Dr. Valtorta returned the smile and said, "It's our pleasure." She raised the small jar of mysterious powder up and continued, "Anyway, this is what I wanted to bring to your attention. As I was just discussing with the major here, I... discovered this strange substance while performing the surgical implant on your other friend. Dr. Voss tells me that he discovered the same material while replacing your pacemaker."

Maya's face distorted in confusion. "Discovered it? Where?"

The overlander adjusted her glasses and looked away from the group's questioning gaze. "In your case, Dr. Voss claims that whatever it is, it was covering the contacts leading from the nuclear battery in your pacemaker, preventing it from providing electricity and powering it. After removing the material and replacing the battery, all seemed well.

"In the case of Mr. Grey, I found it embedded in several of his wounds and particularly around the areas of his kidney that were exposed and in his other kidney, which I was forced to remove."

Everyone, the major included, continued to stare on in confusion and mild disbelief. A green tenrec among the group asked, "Well, what is it? It looks harmless enough, and it's not biological is it?"

She shook her head and replied, "No, we haven't had time to examine it too thoroughly, but it is definitely not biological and therefore not microbiological. I was at first concerned it was a form of infection, but that seems very unlikely at this point."

The blue echidna among the group asked, "So, is it dangerous?"

"That, I believe it is," she answered, returning their concerned gazes. "I don't know what it is, but in any case it was directly responsible for causing your friend's remaining kidney to fail, and it was directly responsible for causing your pacemaker to fail.

"At first I thought it was simply some sort of substance that managed to get into his wounds simply by exposure, like dirt. On the other hand, this does not explain how it got around your pacemaker's battery."

The tenrec immediately perked up and said, "Wait, that looks exactly like the stuff we found at the storage facility site we destroyed!"

The echidna, Kyros, added, "Yeah, it does. I'd bet anything that's what it is, and Robotnik made it."

Major Simmin turned his head slightly and asked, "Storage facility?"

Maya nodded and replied, "About a week ago we found some sort of storage tanks Robotnik was building on the shore a little ways from here. We didn't know what they contained, but we demolished them anyway. We flew by a few days ago and found something very similar to that covering the area."

The major leaned onto his desk and looked squarely at Dr. Valtorta. "Do you think it's possible Robotnik is behind this? Some sort of incomplete poison?"

She shrugged and replied, "Who can say? We won't know until the analysis is complete, but it is entirely possible." She made a slight gesture to Maya and said, "It's entirely possible that you breathed it in and it diffused into your tissues indirectly."

"So why aren't we sick?" a porcupine asked.

"That... I also don't know. Since I only found it in injured or weakened tissue, it's possible that your bodies were able to repel it. Something else I won't know for sure until we get the analysis results back. I can test you all if you're concerned."

"That's okay," the tenrec answered for his friends. "I'm not good with needles."

"Perhaps we should just wait until the results are in then," she said. "In the meantime, I think it might be wise to quarantine you all to reduce the risk of affecting others. If it does turn out to be dangerous, I think it would be best to minimize exposure."

Major Simmin sighed and looked down. "I don't know how we can do that. They've been in contact with virtually everyone for nearly three days now."

"It's just a suggestion. Do what you want or think is best."

"Alright." He raised his hand to the doctor and said, "Is there anything else you think we need to know at the moment?"

"Nothing urgent. If I learn anything new, or if the state of our other patient changes for the worse I'll be sure to let you all know immediately."

"Very well." He stood and continued, "You're all dismissed then. I want a report on the analysis as soon as possible. Until then, you may all continue to make use of our facilities as you see fit, but if you could minimize contact with others I would appreciate it. As the doctor said, it is best to keep risks as low as possible."

* * *

Seltic slowly plodded along in the middle of the group of his friends, making their way to a large conference room below ground in the arcology. The doctor had contacted them half an hour ago and reported that something disturbing had been learned about the mysterious substance, and that it did indeed point to Robotnik. Whatever she had learned, she wasn't in a hurry to tell them over the intercom, and the major had decided to make it a strictly non-civilian matter.

Kyros tapped the third basement level's button in the elevator, and said, "Anyone else got a bad feeling about this?"

"Yeah," Maya replied as the door slowly slid shut and locked into place with a thunk. "The major wanting to keep this secret tells me that it's something serious."

"Perhaps he doesn't want the civilians involved in matters concerning Robotnik. I'm sure he has something to do with it," Stanley added.

Vladimir grunted and backed against the wall of the elevator. "He probably does not want to cause a panic. Hopefully it is something that can be handled easily."

Seltic gave a half chuckle as he saw Kyros roll his eyes. "I wouldn't count on it, not if it's got something to do with Robotnik."

The elevator slowed from its dizzying pace, reaching the floor from the sixty-seventh floor they had previously been on. It ground to a halt and let out a chime from an aged speaker that drug out the sound and crackled with static. As the door slid open with another hydraulic clank, the elevator's bright lighting spilled into the room beyond. Two armed guards fully enclosed in the blue-tinted metal armor the soldiers wore turned slightly to acknowledge their arrival.

"The major is waiting for you. Please go through this door and do not deviate from the marked path," one said to them, pointing to a cavernous hallway a few meters away. Large red markers glowed slightly in the dim lighting, marking the path the soldier had mentioned.

No one spoke and only Maya returned the comment with a nod. They quietly continued down the hallway, following the red markers at each junction. Eventually they arrived at a large double door marked, "Briefing room."

"I guess this is it," Kyros said unnecessarily, activating the door controls.

The thick and heavily armored door flashed a green light and unlocked with a much quieter mechanism than the poorly maintained elevator. It silently slid open, revealing a similarly poorly lit room filled with various people clothed in either officer's garments or the heavy ceramic and metal armor of a soldier.

"Come in, have a seat," Major Simmin called to them from across a glowing holoprojector table.

Seltic followed his comrades in and found an empty seat near the back of the room. Despite the dimness of the room, he easily made out Sergeant Morgan's face in the crowd, and a fairly large number of other species clad in armor with sergeant's chevrons painted on them. Four others stood around the table with the major, their jackets adorned with commissioned officer's rank isignias. Seltic tried for a moment to recall their specific rank by looking at the symbols, but at the very least they were all below major if they weren't running the show.

"Alright, it looks like everyone important is here," Major Simmin said, stepping back from the table. "As you probably suspect by now, we have a serious problem."

Seltic tried to quell a sudden fluttering in his stomach.

Major Simmin motioned at the table, prompting it to change its image from a generic image of the Royal Army's badge to a massive and extremely convoluted image of spheres interlocked with lines. Instantly he recognized it as a molecular diagram of some sort.

"Dr. Artis recently finished analyzing the substance found inside of the two patients we received recently with an electron microscope and heuristic computer analysis, and this is what he found." The major pointed in the general direction of the image and continued, "Although it isn't completely obvious what its purpose is, it has been concretely identified as a nanotechnological machine."

A number of startled and confused voices began murmuring among the crowd. Seltic felt a chill wash over his body. If what he said was true, then this was extremely bad. Nanotechnology was among the most advanced developments in overlander science, and had never been transferred to the Mobians in any sort. Although nothing significant had been made of it to his knowledge, the potential was horrendously bad.

"We have analyzed the devices and it appears that they have malfunctioned, possibly due to poor design, or by damage inflicted by our friend's immune systems. They are all currently completely inert and don't appear to be doing anything."

That was a relief at least. Perhaps if nothing else they would have time to react to the threat now, but if Robotnik mastered the technology then the war would be over at that instant. He could manufacture poison that was always fatal, spread quickly and reproduced in the field by absorbing material from the environment. The nature of the ones they had found surely pointed in that direction.

The major changed the image again to show several reconnaissance images over Robotropolis. He crossed his arms and said, "I don't think it's necessary to even question where it came from. Robotnik is the only one with the technology and knowledge to create it. Thus, we have no choice but to immediately embark on a spying mission into Robotropolis to learn more."

He waved his hand over the image and continued, "Somewhat surprisingly we have found nothing unusual in Robotropolis by recon, so we believe that wherever it is being researched and produced, it is disguised to prevent us from locating it. At this point, we thus cannot directly attack the source nor can we commit a force with the intent of locating and destroying it at the same time.

"Instead, in two hours, we will be deploying six squads under the command of company captain Morent to scout out a number of locations that we believe have buildings large enough to house such a research project."

The major looked to the back of the room to the group that had arrived recently and said, "Although we are not going to demand that you assist us, we believe it is mutually beneficial if you do. We would be able to cover more ground, and Robotnik is a serious threat to the both of us."

"We understand," Maya answered. "We'll do what we can."

Seltic half expected Kyros to protest, but given the situation even he was quiet and receptive to the request.

"Excellent, we really appreciate it. I'll leave it up to you to decide where and how to proceed, but I'm open to providing suggestions and tying you into the detachment as a whole." The major shifted his posture and said, "If you agree, I believe we can use your help to perform spying in areas that we would draw too much attention. From what I hear you've done an excellent job in the past in such matters."

He smiled at a nod from Maya and continued, "Great then, we can move on to a tactical discussion and begin laying out objectives." He turned to face a monkey to his side and said, "Captain, if you'd like to begin..."

* * *

Vladimir watched silently as Kyros and Maya continued to debate over potential strategies and locations to scout, wondering to himself quietly as he always did. Although he would never show it to his friends, events of late were very unsettling and he was beginning to feel genuine concern about Robotnik. He couldn't recall being so concerned since his brush with death in the prison at Robotropolis.

In the background, six squads of soldiers were busy ferrying supplies and preparing their equipment and themselves for the imminent infiltration of Robotropolis. Memories of his own service in the Royal Army's special operations forces continued to dominate his thoughts as he watched. Had Robotnik's forces not slain his detachment and permanently separated him from the armed forces, he may well have ended up here instead of Armadi. None of the soldiers were familiar, but he did still feel somewhat at home here. He would never say it to his friends, but he had considered asking to join the army now.

Considering his prior experience with the army, Kyros and Maya had asked his input on the situation. Unfortunately his own knowledge about the situation was so limited that he had nothing significant to add, but had requested that they work directly with the army. If they were tied into their communication nets, at the very least they wouldn't be in the dark about potential problems that arose. Considering Robotnik's last response to their presence, it was likely that things would get intense quickly.

Among the crowd of troops hurrying back and forth around them, Corporal Fields appeared, partially armored and clearly still unfinished with his preparations. He looked back to his subordinates and shouted a few orders over the noises echoing through the room before beginning to weed his way over to Vladimir and his friends. He halted as he drew close and attempted to remove a pair of small radios from his belt clip.

"Alright, the major has decided to allow you to work directly with us and use our radio channels. These radios are encrypted and internal to our network, but if we use them much Robotnik will catch on to our locations, so try to keep things to a minimum," he said, finally wrenching the radios free and handing them over.

Kyros accepted the two devices and replied, "Yeah, we know. Are we going to be working with your squad specifically?"

"Yeah," the donkey answered with a frown, adjusting a radio ear stud in his ear. "The major seems to think that since we're acquainted that it's the best way to proceed."

"Okay, do we have our orders yet?"

"Major's still working on them, he'll hand them out electronically when we leave." The corporal grunted and stepped back before adding, "Make certain that you're ready within half an hour, we can't afford to be late."

Vladimir could see a hint of anger welling up within Kyros as the donkey left. The echidna pocketed the radios and turned to Maya, asking, "Okay, so what's his problem?"

"I don't know, things are a bit stressful, maybe he's just anxious."

Kyros frowned and turned to Vladimir and said, "Whatever. You ready? I think all we need to do is head to the hangars."

Vladimir smiled and flashed a small smirk. "Of course."

* * *

Kaplain quietly crept along behind Kyros as the team followed Sergeant Morgan's squad at a distance. He wasn't hoping to be back in Robotropolis so soon, but if there ever was a situation that demanded action, this was it. Briefly he had considered the option of feigning a particularly bad case of the chronic pain that plagued him so that he could stay behind with Maya and Marcus at the arcology, but now wasn't the time to back down on the promise he'd made to them.

At least they had managed to breach security without any fuss, the major's plan to avoid combat at all costs taking them into the city through an abandoned natural gas line that was large enough to walk through. Even when they had emerged into the city, there was no sign of any workers or security detail other than the odd buzzbomber or spy-eye. Whatever security reassignment Robotnik had performed recently, it apparently required the attention of all of this sector's security as well. Something large had to be going on.

He changed grips on his rifle to rest cramping muscles in his arms and continued to slide along the wall of a nearby building. Even if security seemed lax, there was no need to make it easy to detect them.

The building they had been assigned to investigate had apparently at some point been a chemistry laboratory, and if anywhere in Robotropolis had potential to be making components of the nanotech it was a good bet. The sergeant had told them that they were unable to send a recon force ahead to check for security first, but if things continued as they were it wasn't likely they would be running into a large force.

The other five squads had entered Robotropolis through the same hole in security, but had long ago diverged to cover nearly a quarter of the city with some reasonable guarantee of not missing anything. The other parts of Robotropolis were mostly filled with heavy industrial factories, and by everyone's logic Robotnik would probably prefer to leave them alone and instead convert a useless building into the manufacturing plant.

Suddenly, up ahead Kyros crouched and waived his comrades to the ground. He turned back and said, "Watch it, the sergeant just radioed and said that there are about five security bots patrolling around the target building. She wants us to move up slowly and meet up with them before they engage."

"Alright," Stanley answered as he moved up beside Kaplain. "They're what, two blocks up?"

"Yeah, come on, and keep it quiet."

Kaplain could feel his pace quicken a hair at the idea of being in another firefight. With any luck the soldier's weapons would shred the robots before they even knew they were coming. If not, they would only have a few seconds to finish the job before one gave their position away, and that was assuming that there weren't hundreds inside the building working at producing new nanobots.

The team silently crept up the barren street. The midday sun overhead shone down on them with what seemed an unnatural brightness, possibly distorted by one of the dozens of pollutants filling the air. The beams of light picked out hundreds of stark shadows shifting across the road, cast by pieces of paper or other debris blowing around in the brisk wind. Kaplain squinted and groaned as scorching blast of wind buffeted his face, and he tried to brush away particles of dirt and dust now embedded in his fur.

Kyros paused behind a large chunk of some unknown machine and waited for the others to join him before saying, "Alright, the squad is one more block over." He pointed through a building to their side and said, "The sergeant wants us to go through here to meet up with them, with the hopes of avoiding any prying eyes."

The team silently acknowledged the order and followed Kyros into the alley and through a battered and rusted steel doorway. The inside of the building was choked with clouds of floating dust, and any possible cover in the form of abandoned furniture had long been removed. At least there weren't any robots.

"This way," Kyros ordered, strolling through the building with unusual confidence. He moved up to a shattered window and pointed to a building across from them over an empty plot of land. "Her squad is supposed to be stationed in there. She wants us to wait for them to clear the defenses before we meet up and head inside."

He pulled the radio from his coat pocket and signaled their allies that they were ready. "Okay, the fireworks should start any moment now."

Kaplain hunkered down next to Kyros and peered through the window. As predicted, the sound of particle and laser beams ripping through the air began to meet his ears, and an occasional stream of energy shot past their window toward an unseen target. Amid the chaos, the sound of heavy metal footfalls joined the cascade, and two robots burst into the clearing from another building.

"Take them out!" Kyros shouted to his own squad, raising his rifle to the two and opening fire.

Kaplain joined fire followed immediately by the others. The two unsuspecting foxes were hammered by the barrage of fire, and in an instant they collapsed to the ground, fountaining sparks from the jagged holes in their bodies.

"Come on, let's get to the others, we might have more company any moment," Kyros bellowed as he smashed the remaining glass from the large window and hopped outside.

"Contact!" another robotic voice shouted in their direction.

To their right, Kaplain instantly made out a roboticized kangaroo standing in an alley. It studied them for a second before its eyes snapped open and it shouted, "It's Kyros! Terminating now!"

The kangaroo charged toward them, raising its arm in Kyros' direction. A pair of plasma bursts jumped from Seltic and Sissera's weapons, detonating against it and hurling it from its feet with a blinding burst of light. It slammed into the building supposedly housing the other squad, and staggered for a moment before forcing itself back onto its feet.

A cold chill raced down Kaplain's spine as he recognized the unbelievable durability of the robot marking it as a combat specialist. He immediately poured particle rifle fire in its direction, the blue beams slicing through its body in several places.

It snarled and ignored the shots, arming a grenade launcher in its other arm. Its shot rocketed off into the air in a parabolic arc as an uncountable number of laser shots hammered it, shredding through its unarmored elbow and shearing its forearm off. Behind him, Vladimir opened fire with a heavier automatic laser cannon, punching dozens of irregular holes in its torso and annihilating its knee.

The kangaroo groaned and continued to fight to regain its footing, shouting, "Kyros the echidna is in the area! All units report immediately and return-" Its words were cut off as one of the heavy lasers smashed into its eye, blowing fragments of glass and mechanics onto the street before detonating components inside its head. Acrid smoke poured from its ruined eye and ears as it slumped forward, an echoing crunch of metal against asphalt sounding as its heavy body hit the street.

"Nice shot, now let's go!" Kyros commented, darting for the building ahead.

Already the soldiers inside were pouring out into the street, responding to the battle that had just ended. Among them, the shorter of two equine figures examined the remains of the destroyed kangaroo and said, "Did he manage to alert anyone else?"

"I think so," Kyros answered, taking a second to regain his breath. "It seemed awfully concerned to see me, it shouted off for others to come and help it take me out."

The taller of the two cursed and looked back to their destination. She turned to her squad mates and said, "Okay, no more time to waste. We're going on with the mission, but only to see if there's anything inside. Either way, we're not hanging around, and if we come under heavy fire we'll fall back immediately."

The shorter corporal stood from his crouched position over the remains and said, "What should I tell the captain?"

"Let him know we may have alerted security. We'll let him decide if all of us should abandon our objectives or not."

* * *

Sergeant Morgan anxiously formed up with her squad mates as they approached the building. Other than the security forces they had destroyed only minutes ago, there was no further sign of any robots in the area, but she knew full well that the combat robot that Kyros' team and destroyed had alerted Robotnik. There would be hundreds of security robots surrounding them within ten minutes, and if they weren't done by then the results would be grim.

"All clear, sir," one of the soldiers said in her direction, waving them over to the large vehicle sized door on the side of the structure. "I don't see any movement inside, looks like we're in the clear for the moment."

"Great," she replied, breathing a sigh of relief. "Open it up and make it quick. If it's locked or broken, blow it open." She looked to the corporal and said, "Okay, take your fire team and keep a watch for more security. If more than one or two shows up, let me know right away."

"Yes, sir," he answered, trotting off as directed.

She watched as the massive worn doorway ground open without undue provocation, and like clockwork two soldiers scanned the interior for movement. One by one her squad entered the building slowly, weapons raised and scanning for trouble. She turned to ensure that Corporal Fields was in a safe location before entering the building herself. Just as she had been informed, there were no robots inside, and it looked as if the building had been abandoned just as long as Robotnik had been in power.

"Go check the labs downstairs," she directed to the nearest of her squad. "Make it quick." She stepped back outside and scanned the streets for movement, flinching as Kyros and his squad moved up beside her.

"Anything inside?" he asked.

"Doesn't look that way," she answered. "If we don't find anything here, Captain Morent said to head to the extraction point immediately."

"Okay, anything we can do?"

She looked down and sighed. "Keep an eye out for security, that's all I can say." With a nod from Kyros, she turned to enter the building again and determine their status. At that instant, a laser stabbed out at her from nowhere, burning a large hole in her ear where her head would have been moments before. She shrieked and grabbed at her injured ear, nearly falling back inside.

"Sniper!" she shouted as best she could, recognizing the shot as coming from a window above and trying to scramble into cover. In a panic, all of Kyros' squad poured into the building after her, ducking behind any cover and steering clear of open windows.

"What in the king's name!?" Kyros shouted. "Robotnik's never used snipers before!"

"Well he is now!" she shouted back, ignoring the burning pain in the side of her head. "Everyone get into cover now! I'll call for extraction!"

Another violet beam of energy lanced inside, shattering a window and splashing from the sloped armor plate covering her knee. She pulled further back and said into her helmet's intercom, "Captain, we're being pinned down by snipers at the chemistry lab. We can't get out and we need support right now!"

"Copy that, we're getting similar reports from other squads. I've got drop ships already on the way to neutralize the snipers and get you out."

From her side, Kyros hurled a grenade through a demolished window and covered his ears. After the explosion and subsequent spray of debris into the building, he looked to her with a extremely concerned expression and said, "I just waxed one, but there's probably fifteen more SWATbots heading this way. I'm betting they're new models."

She listened for a moment into her radio and said, "The ships should be here in less than a minute to get us, we just have to hold off until then."

A spattering of shots entered the room through the same window, punching holes in the rebar reinforced concrete walls and spraying them with powder. She grunted as another shot burst through the wall behind her and impacted her armor, and she fell prone. "Definitely super SWATbots, everyone to the basement!"

Without a further word her allies followed her lead and fell to their bellies, crawling in a crazed hurry to the stairs through a doorway to their left. More lasers sizzled past and burned the air above them, smashing random objects and riddling the wall with more holes. She sprang to her feet and rushed down the stairs, finding her half of the squad holding positions behind whatever cover they could find.

"Sergeant?" one asked meekly, rifle braced against a crate.

"Ships are incoming to evac us, should be here any moment. Stay low until then."

Just as the words left her mouth, the ships that had been standing by for just such an emergency could be heard roaring overhead. Deafening explosions rocked the ground above them as directed RPGs destroyed robots and cleared the attack waves approaching them.

In her helmet's intercom, Corporal Fields said, "The ship's here sarge, we're on the way now."

She braced her rifle and waited a few seconds for the explosions to die down above. "Alright everyone, make a break for it!"


End file.
